Faithful
by CaskettFan5
Summary: Castle makes a decision shortly after the Pandora case and it results in things going AU during "Always"
1. Suspended

A/N: You'll see what Castle's decision was in chapter 2 and there are hints in chapter 1. This was planned early season 6 so it doesn't include facts revealed later in season 6. I don't own Castle and if I did, it probably wouldn't be as good.

"Come on! We don't want to miss her speech!"

Castle glanced at his watch again and muttered, "Or the entire graduation."

"I'm almost ready!"

Castle had just started to pace again when he was surprised by his phone going off. He reached for his phone too quickly and suppressed a grimace as the bruise on his arm reminded him, painfully, of its existence. He saw "12th Precinct calling" and paused a moment and nearly chose to ignore the call. He hesitated and realizing that he still didn't hear his mother coming, he decided he was curious enough to spare a moment.

"Castle"

"Thank god!" Castle was surprised at how desperate Ryan sounded and was instantly glad that he had taken the call. "She took off with Javi and that's all. They left me here to see if the car moves. They have no backup and they're going after a pro!"

This was exactly what Rick had feared and he now regretted answering the phone. It would be bad enough to hear she was dead but to worry and wait for it to happen was even worse. He was tempted to say something like 'that isn't my problem' but it wouldn't be fair to Ryan.

"Castle?"

"Yeah"

"I think I should tell Gates."

He pondered for a second and heard his mother stirring upstairs although she still didn't seem to be on her way yet. "I agree. She may not listen to us but Gates has the best chance of keeping her alive. Where did they go?"

Ryan responded with a block on the lower east side while Castle wished he could do something despite his recent resolution to walk away.

"I've gotta go. Alexis graduates soon and my mother and I might be late."

"Right. I'll let you know…"

"Thanks"

Rick pondered his phone as he finally heard his mother coming down the stairs and he couldn't resist prodding her one last time. "Let's go, we'll be late."

"Yes, dear."

He kept his sigh as soft as possible. He didn't have time for a discussion with his mother. His arm gave him another twinge as he started to put his phone away. He couldn't go himself but perhaps the man who'd given him this bothersome bruise could do something. This was not part of what he was doing for Castle now but he knew this was a job that he could do. It wouldn't be a long call, he'd do it or he wouldn't. Castle wouldn't waste any time trying to talk him into it if he didn't want the job.

He selected the number as he started to lead the way to the door. As usual, the man answered the phone quickly.

"Bud."

"Castle here."

"I know. Not ready for another session already, are you?"

The man he knew only as Bud was trying to tease him. Maybe he was actually starting to like him but he didn't have time for that now. He was ahead of his mother and kept his voice low hoping she wouldn't overhear.

"This is something totally different. Beckett may be in trouble. I know this isn't what I asked you for but is it possible for you to try to keep an eye on her or something?"

He waited a second and was expecting a 'no' when he heard a question. "Where?"

He told him the same block that Ryan had just given him.

"I'll do what I can."

He hung up just like that. He hadn't asked for any extra fee or anything. Once again Castle wondered why Bud was helping him and who Bud really was. He knew one thing though. If anyone could save Beckett it would be someone like Bud. Of course, it was someone like Bud who was trying to kill her too.

He was still staring at his phone when his mother caught up to him while he waited for the elevator. He turned off his phone to prevent any more interruptions as he heard his mother speak.

"Is that about your mysterious lessons again?"

"Yes." That wasn't really true but he had just called the man who was giving him the 'mysterious lessons' so it was close enough. He tried to put all of that out of his mind when the elevator finally arrived and he and his mother entered.

Later, on a rooftop:

Beckett came around the corner cautiously with her gun ready but saw no sign of the man that she'd been chasing. She tried to figure out where he could have gone as she carefully began to advance wondering if she was missing some hiding place where he might be waiting.

She was caught off guard as she was knocked down from behind and her gun skittered away from her. However, she had managed to twist them so they landed side by side rather than him on top of her. She tried to go for the gun but he prevented it so she switched tactics and attacked him and even managed to take his back. She was going to try to choke him when he suddenly threw her forward.

She finally thought he'd made a critical mistake as she grabbed her gun but he knocked it away from her before she could do anything with it. She was still close enough to attack but he just defended at first but she spared no time to wondering why. He even shrugged off a kick to his face when he lashed out with a palm strike that flattened her.

It also knocked the wind out of her so she was unable to resist as he grabbed her by her jacket and hauled her up to look at her. Suddenly his hands were around her throat and she knew it wouldn't take him long to strangle her, she already wasn't getting enough oxygen. Instead, he kicked her in the groin and struck her in the back to make her fall forcefully.

She was gasping for air, doubled over in pain and seeing stars from the impact but she was still struggling to stand again. She was barely aware of him walking around her when suddenly she heard an odd sound and a heavy thump a moment later.

Her vision still wasn't clear so it took her a few moments to resolve the shape lying on the roof in front of her as the man she knew only as Maddox. She gaped at him for a moment when it finally occurred to her that the sound must have been a shot with a silencer. She looked around as quickly as she could but saw no one. She managed to regain her feet and staggered over to her gun and picked it up. She looked around again, expecting to see Esposito catching up to her but she was still alone as far as she could tell.

She was still unsteady as she cautiously approached Maddox with her gun pointed at him but she soon saw that he wasn't a threat anymore. He'd been shot in the head and there was a pool of blood under the wound. However, she could already tell that the blood flow had stopped. Maddox was definitely dead.

Who had done it though? She stepped back from him, still wary of him even in death and kept her gun drawn but pointed down as she slowly scanned not only the roof but all of the buildings nearby. She saw no sign of whoever had shot Maddox and saved her. Esposito would have no reason to hide, who had done this? The silencer was also puzzling, why would a cop have one?

The adrenaline rush she had been using to push herself was rapidly running out. She was beginning to shake in reaction and it would have been difficult to find a part of her body that didn't hurt. She stared at Maddox as she realized yet another possible lead was dead. She had practically bragged to Castle earlier that all the men who'd come after her were dead but dead men aren't much use. They can't tell you who they had worked for.

She had finally caught her breath and felt steadier on her feet but her mind was still whirling in circles uselessly. She had no idea what to do and she kept flashing back to her last conversation with Castle for some unknown reason. He'd betrayed her, why was her mind lingering on him? She tried to ignore the part of her that knew why. She was still angry at him and didn't want to think about him at all. She stiffened as she heard multiple footsteps hurrying up to the roof.

She turned to face the stairway but kept her gun down. She was expecting Esposito and she didn't want to point her gun at him. If it was him though, he wasn't alone. Who could be with him?

She saw Ryan with Gates and a uniformed cop right behind. She reluctantly put her gun back in the holster. This was going to be bad and part of her knew she deserved it. She could have been dead as this man could easily have killed her. As bitter a pill as it was to swallow, Ryan had been right earlier.

Gates glared at her as she approached but remained silent so Beckett did too. She didn't want to meet Ryan's eyes so she kept her focus on Gates as she looked at the body. If anything, her glare was fiercer as she looked at Beckett again.

"It appears that you've gotten revenge on the man who shot you."

"No sir, I have no idea who shot him."

"You mean you found him like this?"

Gates looked and sounded suspicious and skeptical and Kate realized that she deserved that. "No sir. He was alive and well, took both Esposito and I unawares. He ran and I chased him up here. He was doing a pretty good job of beating me up when I heard a shot and he fell. I looked around as soon as I could but I couldn't find anyone."

"Your gun." Gates was still angry and held her hand out for Beckett's gun. Kate gritted her teeth and carefully passed the gun to her captain who immediately sniffed it. Before she could speak again Beckett continued.

"I fired two shots early in the chase while we were still in the building. I never hit him."

That earned her a slightly less suspicious look but Gates kept the gun. Gates turned to Ryan and the uniformed cop. "You two stay up here and secure the area for CSU. I'll go back down and keep an eye on the evidence in his room. Beckett, you come with me."

As they turned towards the stairway down, she saw Esposito standing part way across the roof towards them and looking very angry. In fact, he seemed to be glaring towards Ryan. Kate didn't feel like blaming Ryan, she was more in a self-reproach mode at the moment. Esposito began to look wary as Gates strode towards him. Kate imagined that he was getting a glare similar to the one she had just been subjected to.

"Did you fire your weapon, detective?"

Javier began to look sheepish as he answered. "No sir. I never got the chance." Kate could tell that that admission had cost him.

"You look a little the worse for wear as well." She turned halfway towards Beckett as she continued. "Both of you will report for medical exams and then wait for me in my office. We **will** be discussing your unacceptable behavior. Now get out of my sight."

When Gates had passed Javier she saw him visibly sag. He waited until Beckett came alongside him to turn slowly and begin to follow their captain. Kate felt awful for dragging Javier into this mess and whispered "Sorry" to him.

Javier threw a glare over his shoulder and muttered, "You're not the one who should feel sorry."

"Yes, I am. We could have been prisoners or dead by now if Ryan hadn't brought reinforcements. I screwed up, Espo. I'm sorry."

He looked like he wanted to argue with her but he changed the subject instead. "You really don't know who shot Maddox?"

"I told the truth. I have no idea who saved me." She got distracted as she looked around once more before entering the stairway back down. Again she saw nothing and Javier was looking around too. When he finished he sighed and said, "Nothing."

Neither of them had serious injuries so they were back at the precinct sooner than they would like. There were curious stares and whispered conversations as they passed through the bullpen on the way to Gates' office. Beckett stiffened when she saw Gates was already there. She was not getting any more time to prepare herself for whatever the captain had planned. That might be a good thing though since all of her thinking on that subject had her rather depressed. The fact that Castle kept popping back into her mind was making it worse.

The tongue-lashing was as bad as she feared and she hung her head after throwing her badge on Gates' desk. A part of her wanted to resign but it was overcome by her depression. Javier placed his gun and badge on the desk a little more forcefully but Gates did not seem to react. So it was administrative leave, it could have been worse she supposed. She gathered a few things from her desk and nodded to a concerned Ryan who nodded back and he tried to offer a half-hearted smile. She left before she could see any interaction between Esposito and Ryan, she hoped that Esposito would ease up on Kevin; it had not been his fault.

She emerged from the precinct building and realized that she didn't really want to do anything or go anywhere. She had a feeling of hopelessness and she wondered what she should do to snap herself out of it. She moved away from the building so she wouldn't attract attention from other cops who knew her and subconsciously chose the direction towards Castle's loft. She stopped abruptly down the block when she realized there was one thing she could think about that she could use her detective skills on. Who had helped her?

Very few people knew where she'd be. Until Ryan talked there had only been three of them, as even Castle (she nearly winced at that thought) was out of the loop at that point. To her knowledge, he had only told Gates and she had only told the people who came with her. Who would have had the chance to arrive several minutes earlier than anyone else? If someone on the force had helped her, why would they remain hidden? She had to face it, someone unknown must have known ahead of time. She had to ask Ryan and she had blown her chance to ask him in person. There was no way she would go back in there and face Gates again.

She glanced around and saw only a few strangers who were ignoring her. She took out her phone and called Ryan, hoping that he would be in a position to talk. He'd obviously checked his caller ID as he spoke to her directly.

"How are you, Beckett?"

"I'll live but she tore me a new one. Do you know if she is going to punish you?"

"I don't think so. She's in a real mood now but she talks to me fairly normally. I have to get all of what we dug up to her stat."

"I'll keep this short then. Did you tell anyone else where I'd be other than Gates?"

"Yeah." He paused then said, "Castle."

It felt like her heart skipped a beat and she nearly gritted her teeth but tried to sound normal. "Nobody else?"

"Nobody else."

"Thanks, Kevin. I owe you one. You're a good friend."

"I wish Javi felt that way."

"Don't worry, he'll come around. I already told him that he shouldn't blame you. I don't."

"Thanks. What did she do to you?"

"Four weeks admin leave, no pay."

"That sucks."

"I guess but I earned it. I hope you don't get caught up in it too."

"Not so far."

"I better let you go. See you in four weeks."

"Or earlier too. Bye."

"Bye."

She broke the connection and pondered the news. Castle knew. Could he have…? She felt her stomach drop as something occurred to her. Castle had a gun. It was registered but he didn't have a carry permit. Could he have risked a felony to come for her? It was something he could have done and it would explain why her rescuer didn't come forward. He could not afford to get caught with that gun even for a justifiable shoot. She felt this would qualify but still, he'd be in big trouble.

It looked like she had to think about Castle whether she wanted to or not. She wandered away not even realizing that she was still headed towards Castle's loft. Another possibility occurred to her. Perhaps this person who'd been in contact with Castle about protecting her really was on their side and he had arranged for her rescue. However, that would have to mean he had her under surveillance or Castle had passed on the news.

She kept on puzzling about what had happened, doing her best to avoid thoughts of Castle but not having much success at that. She didn't even notice when the drizzle started. She finally realized that the only time her depression would lift is when she thought about Castle. Could she really trust him though? It was if she had come to from a coma when she realized it was raining and that she was next to a familiar playground. Was she really that near Castle's place? She walked over to a swing, sat down and ignored the rain. She was already soaked through and it couldn't get any worse.

She thought about their time together and she finally had to concede one of Castle's points. He had been there for four years. He had put up with a lot from her, although she felt she'd had to put up with a lot too. Her conscience started to bother her and she finally admitted to herself that perhaps what he'd had to put up with was more than what she'd had to bear. Could she really think that Castle would deliberately betray her? Part of her tried to fight the answer but eventually the answer was no. It began to sink in that she had made a horrible mistake.

Castle's loft:

It was dark, the loft was dead silent and he was worried. He'd resisted turning on his phone for as long as he could but Bud might be trying to contact him. He practically held his breath as his phone came alive. He had one missed call – from Ryan – and no voice mails. He then saw three texts and quickly accessed them. They all appeared to be from Ryan and he breathed a big sigh of relief as he read the first one that was sent.

_She's OK and shooter is dead._

She was out of immediate danger then but was this really over? He was about to access the next one when he was startled by an incoming call. It was from Alexis so he took it immediately. He gave her his full attention and was glad she was fine. He reassured her about being out all night and grinned at the phone as he ended the call. His smile faded away as he went back to read the other two texts.

_Javi and Beckett got four wks suspension_

That wasn't as nice but it might force her to reassess where she was going. He opened the last one.

_She knows I told you location but didn't seem mad._

That last one was odd. He didn't want to read too much into that but he had to admit it made him curious. He sighed and lowered the phone to think. He was just concluding that he really didn't know anything when his phone rang again, startling him once more.

He looked at the caller ID and was surprised that it was Kate. He'd taken Ryan's call and he had to admit that he was curious. It was interesting that she wanted to talk to him. If she started yelling, he could disconnect so he answered.

"Castle"

"Please let me in."

Of all the things she could have said, this one stunned him momentarily. She sounded vulnerable so his sympathy was piqued.

"You're here?"

"Yeah. Please?"

"Be right there."

He ended the call and walked quickly to the door. She had sounded – well, he wasn't sure. Tired certainly but maybe desperate? What the hell was going on?

When he opened the door she was standing there still holding her phone at her side. She was soaking wet, her hair bedraggled and she just stared at him as if she hadn't seen him in years. She still looked beautiful to him despite all that but her expression and how she was acting scared him a bit.

"Are you OK?"

"Yeah."

"Umm, would you like to come in?"

She suddenly smiled and it was if the sun had just come up. He couldn't help smiling back despite lingering anxiety.

"What happened?"

"You don't know?"

"I got some texts from Ryan. I know the shooter is dead. I know you and Esposito are suspended."

"We were fighting on the roof and I was losing. Suddenly, someone shot him and we have no idea who."

Rick realized that it must have been Bud. He was glad his instructor wasn't in trouble or at least he wasn't yet. Something must have shown in his face because she said something unexpected next.

"I would never tell anyone, Rick. Your secret is safe with me."

He knew that was true but he had an informal confidentiality agreement with Bud. He realized that he could tell part of the story safely. "I know a guy and asked him to look after you. I was about to leave for Alexis' graduation and quite frankly, I still wasn't up to seeing you get yourself killed."

He saw what looked like relief in her face and her smile came back. "The guy you told me about before?"

He drew a blank for a moment but then he realized who she meant. "No, not the friend of Montgomery's. I don't know how to contact him. This is another guy."

"I guess I'm lucky that you know 'some guys'."

She was showing her teasing grin so he responded in kind.

"So, does this mean you aren't mad at me anymore?"

Her smile became more seductive as she approached him slowly. She whispered, "It's something else that I feel now." When she touched his arm he felt a chill go up it but not in a bad way. He suddenly became nervous but he had one other question before things got too - distracting.

"What about going after your mother's killers?"

She gazed directly into his eyes and spoke very seriously. "You are much more important than any case. All I want now is you." She gave him a gentle kiss and then drew back to whisper, "only you."

She didn't need to tell him twice. They left a trail of clothing as they meandered towards his bedroom. It was hard to walk straight when you were trying to walk, take off clothes and make out with someone all at the same time.

Later, in a nondescript office in Washington DC:

A man was sitting at a desk and staring at a cell phone as if willing it to ring. He was startled when another phone rang instead. His code name for the line was the wallpaper on the phone so he didn't have to think about it. He said only "Burns".

"The 12th brought in a body. Beckett was involved. I'll send a picture. Is this your guy?"

The man waited as his phone downloaded the image and his face hardened when he recognized the dead body.

"Yeah, that's our guy. What happened?"

"We don't know who shot him. Preliminary ballistics indicates it wasn't Beckett and she claimed to not know who did it. Need anything else?"

"Did they gather any evidence?"

"A lot of papers and stuff from a dead cop. Nothing really popped that I know of."

The man grimaced and thought a moment.

"Let me know if you find anything out about further action or more about the evidence."

"Will do."

He hung up and rubbed his face tiredly. This was bad. Their agent had told him he was on to a lead but didn't tell him what it was or who the blackmailer might be. Now the cops had whatever the agent was working on and he didn't have a contact in the 12th to gather intel. His contact in the NYPD could only do so much. Obviously, this could tip off the blackmailer and he might have to recommend scrubbing the mission. Bracken wasn't going to like this.

The next morning in Rick's loft:

A pain in her back woke her but she tried to stay as still as possible, she didn't want to wake Castle. She eased into a more comfortable position and opened her eyes. She didn't have a good view of him so she moved her head and smiled to see him sleeping so peacefully. She couldn't help but think about how gentle and sweet he had been for their first time. Despite his care she'd had to change their positions once due to a pain in her back, she'd have to ask him about that later. He'd seemed to have taken it in stride but it had felt a bit awkward to her.

She glanced at the clock and realized that for her, it was a bit late for getting up. On the other hand, she had nowhere else to be so why hurry? She decided to surprise him with coffee when he woke up and eased herself carefully out of bed. She felt a little cool when she left the covers and started looking around for something to put on. She spotted his shirt from last night on the floor outside the door so she went over to pick it up and put it on. She smiled as she decided that this was all she'd wear to give him a double surprise when he woke. She made sure not to fasten too many buttons either. It might not stay on very long. She found everything she needed and although the coffee machine puzzled her at first, she quickly figured it out and headed back with two steaming cups of coffee.

When she re-entered his bedroom she saw he was awake and sitting up looking around as if confused. She felt herself start to blush when she saw his reaction to seeing her coming. They exchanged good mornings and she was blushing again when he really seemed to have liked it when she'd changed positions. They also both confirmed that they were serious about their relationship. Things were starting to go in an interesting direction as they talked about what to do next when Castle suddenly stopped and turned his head toward the door, which was still mostly open.

She opened her mouth to ask what was going on when he held up a finger and she decided to listen instead. She hadn't noticed before but now that she concentrated, it did sound like someone was arriving at the loft. Castle was out of bed quickly and she was distracted to see him naked and in better shape than she had realized. She suddenly remembered feeling muscles on him last night but hadn't thought about it as she had other things on her mind then. That plus how quietly and quickly he had gathered pajama bottoms, put them on and grabbed a baseball bat from somewhere really got her thinking.

They both froze when they heard Martha's voice. "Richard, we're here!"

They looked at each other thinking 'we?'. "Can I have a word… Oh. You aren't alone in there, are you?"

He quickly went to the door and mostly closed it. "Just give me a moment, Mother." He closed it completely and quickly returned to sit next to her on the bed. "Well, we would have faced this sooner or later but it is looking like sooner. They'd find out sometime anyway. Do we tell them?"

She wasn't too worried about their reaction but she bit her lip as she considered the ramifications. "We'll have to warn them that this can't get out. NYPD has strict rules about romance in the workplace."

"And we certainly don't want to give Gates any excuses to give me the boot either. Don't worry, Alexis can keep a secret and if we emphasize it, my mother can too." He quickly got up and found her bra and panties which he threw to her but only found his socks and underwear in the rest of the room. He looked at her quizzically "Your pants and top?"

She nodded towards the door with a rueful smile. "Ah. OK, then." He quickly grabbed a t-shirt from a drawer, put it on and disappeared out the door. While she was waiting she put on her panties and then took off his shirt and turned her back to the door to put on her bra. She was thinking about putting the shirt back on when he reappeared with her top and pants.

"Here you go. It seems that Alexis has a nasty hangover and couldn't reach me so my mother came back to pick her up and bring her here. I'll give her some sympathy and painkillers while you finish up in here." He gave her a quick peck on the lips and left. She was partly disconcerted and partly amused. She would have had to face being part of his family at some point. It appears that she was going to witness Alexis' first hangover. Her pants seemed to have shrunk and her top was a little the worse for wear so she was just going to have to make the best of it. When she came out she saw Martha in the kitchen while Castle was talking quietly to Alexis who seemed to be holding her head in her hands.

She noticed her leather jacket hanging from a chair and it was still wet when she touched it. She just hoped that the dry cleaner could salvage it, she really liked that jacket. She sat next to Alexis who looked blearily at her and said "about time" before putting her head back in her hands. That sounded like approval of their getting together and when she looked at Rick his grin and wink was the clincher.

She leaned over and whispered, "plenty of liquids and rest" to Alexis.

"That's what dad said. Ugh. I'll never drink again."

She had to stifle laughter over the last part as she strongly doubted Alexis would keep her word on that. Martha appeared with a cup of tea and got a quiet 'thank you' from Alexis who only stared at it. Martha turned to Beckett and asked, "Coffee for you, dear?"

That's when Kate realized she'd forgotten the coffees in the bedroom. "I already have one, thanks."

Martha smiled and patted her hand as she said, "By the way, I agree with Alexis. It _is_ about time." Martha laughed quietly as she left and Beckett felt the worst blush yet heating her face. She didn't dare look at Castle who seemed to be chuckling and quickly returned to the bedroom to retrieve their cups. She handed one cup to Rick who nodded his thanks and she took a drink from hers. She looked over at Castle again to see a very affectionate grin on his face as he looked at her. She probably had a little color in her cheeks again but she grinned back. Even when things were a little awkward, things were good when she was with Rick.


	2. Mr Smith

A/N: Thanks for all of the favorites, follows and reviews. This chapter was delayed by some significant computer problems but it's finally here. Regretfully, I still don't own Castle.

Kevin was tired and harassed only two hours into his shift. The amount of information he had turned over to Gates yesterday had only seemed to have made her angrier and he'd had to stay late trying to get more information, which was sparse. They finally had gotten the ballistics report back and the bullet was the wrong caliber to have come from Beckett's gun, plus they'd recovered the only two rounds that she had fired. Unfortunately, the bullet could not be matched to any known gun. It was almost certainly a handgun and possibly a silencer had been used. That was all they had gotten.

He also felt isolated. The rest of his normal team was gone and the others around merely seemed interested in getting more gossip about the two suspended officers. To top it off, the vice president was in town and manpower was diverted for that. Although Gates never directed her anger at him, the anger she felt was also wearing him down. He almost wished that he'd been suspended too, only being here to have more information for his missing partners was keeping him going.

He stared at the wedding photo that the dead man had removed from the album and put in his pack. He had ordered a digital image of it for their records but mainly so he could share it with Javier or Beckett. He had a copy ready to email and he hoped one of the two would contact him soon. If he had to act first he was torn between which of them to try first. He wanted to contact Javier more but felt that he would still be too mad to respond to him. He was afraid of encouraging Beckett to act on her own if he gave it to her. He really wasn't sure what to do.

He had his cell on silent and felt the vibration in his pocket. It felt like the signal for a text rather than a call but he'd take either one from whichever of his partners wanted to contact him. He had suppressed his reaction and looked around carefully and saw that he wasn't being watched. Having the captain in a bad mood had the unintended benefit of everyone at least trying to look busy so they didn't have time for gawking.

He took a surreptitious look at his phone and opened a text from Beckett. He was glad to hear from her but he also realized he'd have to make a decision on what to share soon. It was short and to the point: _Can you talk?_

He couldn't talk here but he certainly knew private areas where he could. He slipped his phone back in his pocket and nonchalantly walked to one of those places. He pulled out his phone and called Beckett, who answered on the first ring.

"Hey Kevin, how are you doing?"

The concern in her voice made his day. "I'm OK. Gates is on the warpath but so far she's not mad at me."

"Good. Is there any news?"

Ryan got the impression that he was on speaker on her end and couldn't keep the hope out of his voice. "Is Javi there?"

"Sorry, Kevin. It's me, Castle, and nobody else."

"I thought you were off the case? I'm glad to hear from you though." He was gladder than he could say. He now felt that he could share everything since Castle was there to keep her from doing anything crazy.

Beckett responded this time. "Castle and I patched up our differences. Are you being watched?"

"No but I shouldn't disappear for too long. The gossip mongers are out in force since yesterday and Gates always seems anxious for updates. OK, here's the summary. Ballistics came back, you are cleared but the gun is unknown. Tech went over Montgomery's laptop but there was nothing from Maddox on it. His cell was encrypted and tech may have accidently wiped it trying to get at the data. Gates threw a fit. The weirdest thing in his pack was safe cracking equipment, pretty sophisticated stuff too. He had a picture from Montgomery's wedding in his pack too. I have a copy I can email to you."

"Great. Actually, why don't you email it to Castle instead. Do you have his address?"

"Yeah, I have it. I'll have it for you in a couple of minutes. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, we're fine."

Something in the way she said that made him wonder if she was hiding something but he decided that was her business if she was. Castle rejoined the conversation then.

"Anything else in his pack?"

"Lots of stuff. It looked like he wanted to be ready for anything. Nothing weird though, other than the safecracking stuff."

"Can you share photos of that?"

"Sure but that will take longer. Later today."

"That's fine."

"Anything else?"

Beckett responded this time. "Not right now. Keep your head down Kevin. This will blow over. Even Gates can't stay mad forever."

"I hope you are right. I'll send the email next. Take care."

"You too Kevin."

Kevin ended the call and accessed his private email to send the image. That was the safer option but he knew tech could still trace it if they wanted to. He just hoped they were too busy with other things to bother looking.

Castle was sitting on the bed next to Beckett and he couldn't get over how good she looked despite her hair not being as well coiffed as usual. She almost seemed to have a glow. Maybe it was just how he felt about her affecting his perceptions but he doubted it. He gave her a kiss on the cheek before getting up and was pleased to see a slight blush after he'd done that.

"I'll wait for the photo in my office. We can check it on the big screen."

"I'll be right there, I just need a minute."

Kate watched him go and felt a blush in her cheeks again. Maybe she was going to have to get accustomed to that happening a lot. She'd liked to think of herself as jaded and beyond such things but being with Castle seemed to make her feel younger and apparently act younger as well. She went into Castle's private bath and quickly gave up on her hair, it wouldn't look good until she washed it and she didn't have time for that now. The rain had pretty well obliterated all of her makeup but she took a couple of swipes at her face to make sure. She felt like a teenager again for fussing over her looks like this but she couldn't help it, she wanted to look good for Castle. No, it should be Rick she thought. 'Castle' was just a way to keep him at arm's length and it was way past time for that.

She left to join him and wondered about taking some of her things from her apartment and moving them here. She put that off though, this was all still new and she didn't want to presume. Castle was being so sweet and she found herself grinning just thinking about it. She entered his office and saw him looking at the screen intently after doing something on his laptop.

"It just came in. Do you recognize him?"

She stood next to Rick and studied the image. She scanned the background and saw nothing of interest there so she focused on the man in the foreground. Her impression was of a well-to-do man but there was no inkling of familiarity at all.

"No, never saw him before. I wonder why Maddox was interested in him."

"He is Montgomery's friend, the guy I told you about."

"Are you sure? This was a long time ago."

"Positive, he's older now of course but it's him, no question."

Rick was ahead of her already. She'd better stop acting like a teenager and be more like a detective. She wasn't going to stand for being seen as not pulling her own weight plus she loved competing with Castle. On the other hand, she also liked the synchronicity when they realized something at the same time. Even before she could admit to herself how she felt about him that had always made her feel closer to Rick.

"OK. He looks rich, possibly prominent family and probably a prominent man in his own right. He must be a New Yorker too. Too bad we don't dare try facial recognition."

Rick smiled to hear the detective come out in Kate again. She was in fine fettle and he liked her best when she was at her best. She was really an amazing woman and he still found it hard to believe that she had finally chosen him as he had chosen her so long ago. Then he noticed something interesting in the photo.

Suddenly she saw him zoom in to the man's hand until everything was a blotchy mess. She was about to tease him when it zoomed out to an image where you could see his watch. She was distracted trying to figure out what was interesting about it so she missed her opportunity to tease him.

"That is a Nautilus 3800."

"The watch?"

"That cost 10 grand when it came out in 1981."

"You're a watch expert now?"

"I know the special ones. When was Montgomery married?"

"May. The year would have been…." Beckett's brow furrowed in concentration and somehow he found even that sexy. "… 1981."

"There we go. A high end watch early in the year of release, we shouldn't have too many sales to trace. We should be able to do this. Wait, he called me a while back, maybe Ryan can trace it. I'll text him."

She grinned at his enthusiasm but started to feel uneasy about what they were doing. She decided to text Javier but she had to wait a couple of minutes for his first reply.

_How are you Javi?_

_OK was venting on punching bag_

_I could probably use some of that too._

_How are you doing?_

_I'm OK. Hanging out with Castle_

_You two made up then_

_Yes, can't seem to stay mad at him long_

_I feel same way_

_Give the bag a shot 4 me – c u later_

She waited a minute but Javi was probably back to venting his frustrations already. She contemplated her uneasiness again and was just starting to think about how to express it to Rick when he spoke to her.

"You OK?"

She looked over at him and he seemed to be done with his texting and was looking up something online. "I'm OK. I was just thinking."

He looked skeptical but didn't say anything about that. "Ryan said he'll see what he can do about tracing the call. I'm researching the manufacturer of the watch now. I'll try giving them a call, find out authorized dealers and whatever else they might tell me."

"That sounds good. Should I start checking into lunch?" She knew she might be teased when he grinned at her.

"Are you offering to cook?"

"I'll have you know that I'm a pretty good cook. I may not bother for just myself but I know my way around a kitchen."

"Surprise me then."

So that was how it was going to be. "I'll show you."

They exchanged grins as she stood up to exit his office. She'd figure out how she wanted to bring it up while she worked. She'd get both objectives done. Unfortunately, her first objective didn't go as well as she had hoped. She didn't have much to work with so she had to settle for reheating some soup and putting out ingredients for sandwiches. To make things just a little bit worse, she still wasn't sure what to say to Rick without sounding ungrateful.

She peeked into his office and he was trying to get information from somebody on the phone. She searched the rest of the loft but never found Martha and Alexis was asleep and she certainly didn't want to disturb her. If it were just the two of them for lunch, that would make her discussion with him easier.

She was hovering in the kitchen and had just decided to wait with him in the office when he suddenly appeared and was headed her way. He was grinning while looking at what she had put out for lunch and she was expecting to be teased.

"This is better than I expected."

"You knew I didn't have much to work with! You tried to set me up!"

She gave him a glare but it was ruined by a smile that she just couldn't seem to repress.

"I'll take the fifth on that one. I have a lead."

"Tell me about it." Despite her reservations, she was anxious to hear what he had found out.

"The phone call isn't much of a lead so far. It was a burner cell but Ryan is still trying. I learned something interesting about the watch sales though. Only 17 were sold in this area by May and I got the dealer information but one is out of business. The best lead is that 9 of those 17 were given as gifts to a group of lawyers called PPC for winning a case against big tobacco. I found a picture of the lawyers but only 8 are shown. The guy we want is not in the picture."

"We can't be certain then."

"No, but it's still our best lead. If we have to go to the dealers, this thing will really drag out. We might get lucky on the call."

She stared at the sandwich she was making still trying to come up with the right words. "I'm not trying to discourage you. It's just that I'm not sure how wise it is to dig into this. I thought you were trying to keep me away from this."

He put his hand on hers and she looked up to see a serious expression on his face. "We're in a different situation now. They are trying to trace the guy who is protecting you. We have to warn him. We don't have to do anything beyond that. Knowing how to contact this guy is probably good in the long run. We'll have to keep his identity secret but better communication is important. I hated not being able to consult with him."

She felt somewhat reassured and smiled at him. "I agree. I just don't want to risk going down the rabbit hole again."

"I'll be there to keep you on firm ground."

"You?" She couldn't help but give him an incredulous but amused look.

"I realize we'll going against type here but we're a team."

She gave him a coy look. "I think we're more than a team."

"I love you so much."

The look he was giving her nearly took her breath away. She did manage a short answer. "Me too." She felt a little embarrassed about not saying it more plainly but he looked so happy she shelved that thought for later. She'd find a way to express it best.

"There was something else interesting that I stumbled on."

He paused and acted like he wasn't going to continue as he worked on his own sandwich. "You're going to make me ask?"

His impish grin almost made her roll her eyes but then he finally finished delivering the news. "I was the second guy to call them. Another man called yesterday."

"Maddox."

"That's my guess."

'You're right. We have to warn him."

"I'm always right."

She gave him a skeptical look so he chuckled and spoke again. "OK, I'm right except when you're right."

She just shook her head at him and grinned. Lunch was lighthearted and ended just after Martha returned. Apparently she had some hangover remedy in mind that she had bought ingredients for. They left her to it and were making little progress in getting information from the dealers. They still had no idea if there were any records left from the dealer that closed. Their luck changed when Rick's cell phone rang.

He saw it was from Ryan so he put in on speaker and answered. "Castle and Beckett"

They heard a chuckle and then Kevin's voice. "Hey you two. I didn't get much but I did get one tidbit. It seems he used his burner cell once in a location with bad cell coverage. His call went through Wi-Fi and we were able to get an IP. It was traced to a yacht club in Westport, Connecticut. The name of the place is… Magellan Yacht Club. "

While Rick was busy trying to do a web search in a browser window he was a little surprised when Kate ended the call with, "Thanks, Ryan. You're a big help." She saw his curious look and continued. "We have to be careful what we let him get involved with. There's some sort of leak in NYPD. We can't take any chances now."

Kate took what they had printed out from the PPC website while Rick looked for names or pictures affiliated with the yacht club. She stopped him when he found the list of the board of directors. A moment later she pointed to a name on her list and showed it to him. "Michael Smith, he's on both sites. Hopefully it's the same Michael Smith."

It took time due to the common surname but he finally found a picture of a Michael Smith that he recognized. "Got him! I have an account with a paid site for researching people. Don't worry it can't be traced to me. Oh, and this is all on VPN, it's something I got from a hacker I know."

"Like I said, you know a lot of guys."

She was grinning at him so he teased her back. "Actually, there's this woman I know who is a lot more interesting than the guys I know."

"You'd better be talking about me." She was using her teasing grin on him and he rolled his eyes at her.

"I am. Ah, and there is his home address. He's a lawyer, right age. This is it." They only saw Martha so they said goodbye to her as they left. Rick chose his Ferrari in the garage and Kate grinned at him again. "This is the kind of car rich men buy during a midlife crisis."

Rick leveled an annoyed look at her and she laughed. "You have fun pulling my chain so you have to expect to get some of that back."

"You do realize that I will retaliate."

"Give me your best shot."

"Don't worry, I will." She looked at him expectantly so he continued. "When you least expect it."

"Which just means that you can't think of anything right now."

"I'm concentrating on the best route."

"87, of course."

"The Bronx River Parkway might be better this time of day."

"It'll take longer to get on that."

"But we could save more time once we're on it."

"Fine, do it your way. You're finally getting to drive."

"Yes. I am."

She gave him a pretend glare but then gave him a haughty look when he took 87.

Castle just grinned. "I didn't want to get you upset."

She responded with a disbelieving huff but he let it pass. It wasn't until he was getting near their destination that he noticed her getting nervous. "What's wrong?"

"I still have my backup piece but I feel a little naked without my regular gun and my badge." She realized what she had just said and when she saw him grinning she added, "You can keep any suggestive comments to yourself, Castle. You know what I meant."

"Me?"

It wasn't until she was glaring at his big grin that she realized that he had distracted her from her anxiety. "OK, you made your point. Just remember he's a target. Keep alert and let me be the cop."

"You'll find that I'm much more alert these days."

That cryptic comment reminded her of her observations from that morning but she decided to save that for later. She was impressed by the large mansion they were approaching. "Is this it?"

"It is. Doing pretty well for himself, isn't he?"

"This house looks like old money to me."

"That's possible."

The gate was open so they drove right in. When they parked she looked around and kept her hand near her gun. There were surveillance cameras around so they might be observed already. Hopefully, it also meant it wasn't easy for someone else to sneak up on them.

As they neared the door, she spoke to him again. "Remember, I'm on point. Don't make me remind you of which of us is the real cop."

She noticed he looked tense and very alert so she was satisfied and concentrated on the door when she pushed the doorbell. They waited long enough that she was about to try again when the door suddenly opened and a familiar face looked at them with an annoyed expression.

"You shouldn't be here but come in, quickly."

She noticed him checking behind them as they entered and he swiftly shut the door and turned towards them. He looked at Rick as he started. "How did you find me?"

"Actually, we got the lead that led to you from the guy who arranged the break-in at Montgomery's. They weren't looking for loose ends unless you count yourself. They were looking for you."

Michael Smith's eyes widened in reaction before he spoke again. "He's getting serious about this. It must be true that…" He seemed to become aware of his curious audience and stopped. "I didn't expect them to get this desperate. I'm going to have to rethink my precautions. So he's after me now?"

"There might be another guy but the original guy is dead. As far as we know, he was working alone. We'll gain some time because of that but we don't know how much."

"Does this have something to the shooting on the rooftop?"

"That was him."

"Any ideas on who shot him?"

Rick deferred that question to Kate with a look so she spoke for the first time. "We have no idea; ballistics doesn't have a matching gun on file."

Mr. Smith looked distracted and muttered, "Interesting."

Rick spoke up again. "We still need to be careful, obviously, but I think it will be advantageous for us to be able to contact each other."

"I'm forced to agree. I'll be in touch once I'm ready with a solution or do you have one already?"

"No." Rick looked at Kate who shook her head no.

"Thanks for the warning. I'll take action immediately." He glanced between the two of them before adding, "Be careful".

"You too." Rick and Kate turned to the door and exited in silence.

After looking around and seeing nothing, Kate seemed to relax. "That went better than I expected."

"We're on the same side."

"It wasn't Smith I was worried about."

Rick sighed and nodded his agreement. Once they were back in the car, Kate gave Rick a serious look. "We have some things to discuss on our way back."

"Like what?"

"Like when you started to work out, why you are so alert, the way you moved when you heard your mother and Alexis arrive."

"Oh. That something."

"Spill it, Castle."

This brought home one of the disadvantages of falling for a detective, it was very hard to keep a secret.

"This goes back to the Pandora case. I was a liability in that case." He stopped talking and glanced at her before continuing. "More than usual, I guess."

"You helped more than you hurt things, Cas – Rick. You've been a good partner, I have no complaints."

"Being a liability is not acceptable to me. I feel protective about you just as you feel that way about me. I have been taken by surprise, I have no gun, I wasn't good in a fight, I was sick of it. A carry permit is really tough for me to get, my past catches up with me. However, I decided I could be in better shape; learn how to defend myself, stuff like that."

Kate gave him a smile before replying. "I appreciate the effort and it's a good idea. Once I'm reinstated, I'll look into helping you get a carry permit. There's a side benefit too."

He glanced at her and all she did was smirk at him. He remembered what she said earlier and used it on her. "You're going to make me ask?"

"Turnabout, Rick, turnabout is fair play." Her smile grew wider as she leaned over to whisper to him. "You looked sexy running around naked this morning."

He didn't seem to have an answer for that but his big grin was accompanied by a slight blush. Mission accomplished.

"What are you learning?"

"Situational awareness is a big one. I'm getting better at that already. Learning to fight is the one I have a long way to go on. He keeps beating me up and he's very demanding. I think he was a drill instructor or something in the past."

"So he's ex-military?"

"Yes."

"Is he teaching a specific martial art?"

"No, a mix of all of them I think. He calls it 'violence of action'. He's showed me some nasty stuff that I'm not sure I want to use but a lot of good stuff too."

He paused when Kate seemed distracted. She mumbled, "Sounds like Maddox" when she saw him looking.

Rick mulled that for a moment and then offered, "He's on our side." She looked like she wanted to ask a question but subsided and thought. Later, she asked a different question.

"So did you join a class?"

"No, it's private lessons."

"Can I join?"

"Ummm, I'll have to ask my instructor." His next conversation with Bud was going to be awkward.

He decided to face that situation later and changed the subject. "There's something I want to discuss too."

"What?"

"How badly are you hurt?"

She smiled at him before answering. "Not badly. I was checked by the doctor before I got suspended. Just bumps and bruises, nothing serious and the same for Espo."

He glanced at her appraisingly before responding. "Good."

They fell into a companionable silence but Rick was thinking about that night and well, all the nights after that really. Should he say something? He glanced at Kate and she seemed distracted about something. Could she be thinking the same thing?

"I was thinking, you know, if you want… that there's space already in the bathroom and I could clear out a drawer or two for… your stuff."

Her smile told him he had made a good move. "That would be nice." Her smile then waned as she added, "But I think I should sleep in my apartment tonight."

"OK"

He was disappointed but tried not to show it but she must have caught on. "There's nothing to prevent you from sleeping over at my place though." He answered her grin with one of his own.

"I need a shower and if you're good, I'll let you join me."

"The last time you took a shower at your place when I was there, you wouldn't let me look."

"Times have changed, Castle – ah! I mean Rick. You can look this time."

"Why are you trying not to call me Castle? I'm used to it."

"Well, as I just said our relationship has changed. I thought it would be better to call you by your first name now when it's just us." Suddenly she got a teasing grin. "Or I could call you a pet name, maybe something like 'honey bunny'."

"Eeww, or not."

"Is there another one that you prefer?"

"Not really. Rick is fine. Castle is fine. Just no 'honey bunny'."

She caught herself giggling. Giggling! Really? Something about Rick just made her feel like a teenager again. It was nothing compared to how happy she felt though. If that was part of being this couple that they are then that was fine with her. She suddenly realized that this never happened with the other men she had dated. The difference must be that they never got past her wall.


	3. Bud

A/N: Thanks for the continuing favorites, follows and reviews. I still don't own them.

It was almost a relief when Bracken finally burst into the room. He knew that the last part of his presentation would not be well received and he just wanted this over with. Bracken sometimes blamed the messenger so he'd just have to see how things went.

He started the presentation immediately and intended to keep it direct and efficient just like his boss liked it. He put up the photo of Michael Smith that he had gotten from his contact in NYPD. "This is the man who was blackmailing you. Before he died our agent had determined he was our target but never had a chance to report it to us." He saw that predatory grin on Bracken's face and he knew it wouldn't last too much longer.

"His name is Michael Smith and he's a partner in a major law firm in New York. More of a behind the scenes type but he's good at what he does and is rich. No military background and not a threat in his own right."

He switched to a clip of a satellite video and continued. "This is the video of how our agent died. You see him coming out on the roof there and then here you see Detective Beckett following him. Note how he doubles back and then… here he attacks her from behind. I'm not sure why he was toying with her like this but he obeyed his orders and didn't try to kill her." He paused and then just before he dropped he continued. "Here you see him get shot. Beckett is slow to react and you can see she is unaware of who shot him."

"Was it a sniper?"

"No. I'll take the video back and point out two parts that are easy to miss." He froze the image as a shape quickly emerged from the stairs just before it disappeared behind them. "We don't catch him taking the shot but then here, you see him leaving again. There's no way to ID him from this video. He's well trained; it's hard to say where. Could be special ops, Seals, CIA, there's no way to know."

Bracken was frowning at the screen now, it would be best to get this part over as quickly as possible. "Note how our agent was very open in this shot. We would have had a good chance of ID'ing him if we didn't already know who he was. The assassin though was very careful. We have to assume that he knew about the bird. If he knows about the bird he may be aware of who finds video from it interesting too."

"Beckett's boyfriend is the author Richard Castle. We'd never paid much attention to him but I decided to check up on him and discovered he turned up in a CIA case just a few months ago. Then I found out something very concerning. He was given access to a high ranking operative of the CIA for about a year, several years ago. He was just starting out and should never have been given such access but he was. I haven't found out who pulled the strings but someone high up got him that access. I also found out he got in contact with the CIA a couple of years ago, well after that time. In short, Senator, her boyfriend has highly placed CIA contacts."

He could see the petulant expression on Bracken's face so he decided to make his point clearer. "I got this video feed from the CIA, Sir. They may be able to trace us and Castle may end up knowing who we are. By the way, there are two birds with eyes on this location right now."

Bracken was angry now. "Then why did you ask for this video?"

"We had to know what happened to our guy. Beckett could have been hiding something but obviously she didn't do it. Until I saw how the assassin moved in this video I had no idea we had formidable adversaries. I had no idea there was a risk in asking for this video. I didn't know about Castle until I got suspicious after seeing this video."

"Dammit!"

He looked more frustrated than angry now so the man giving the presentation relaxed a bit. He waited patiently as the senator glared at the screen still showing the assassin about to disappear from the video. He sounded calmer when he asked, "Do you have any more video on the shooter?"

"No sir. Note the angle we have here, it makes street level observation difficult. It was the only bird with access to this location at that time."

Bracken sighed and then spoke again with a resigned tone. "So you are saying we have to back off, figure out who is helping them."

"Yes Sir. Continuing after any of these targets could escalate things and possibly cause something worse than the evidence you are worried about."

"Use your best judgment then. Maybe the chatter will get us something."

"I have a theory about who pulled the strings but it isn't good news."

"Let's get it all over with now then."

"Most of the chatter is from people who work at Langley. Like the guy he consulted with a couple of years ago. There was also chatter about the case of a few months ago. But the strings being pulled years ago – there's nothing. My guess is a high level field operative may be involved. There's little chatter from them as chatter can get them killed. That is a worst case scenario for having an enemy."

"Fantastic." That comment was practically dripping with sarcasm.

When he spoke again his tone was back to resigned. "Do what you can." Bracken left as quickly as he had entered and the man still in the room breathed a sigh of relief.

The next morning, in Beckett's apartment:

She woke up and heard someone in the kitchen and smelled something cooking. It appeared that he was going to treat her to breakfast but she couldn't understand what he could be cooking. She was pretty sure that her food supply was even leaner than what she faced yesterday for lunch. She already had a huge grin on her face and was forced to notice once again how happy she was. What was it about Rick that made her so happy? It didn't take long for an answer to come as it was obvious it was because of how she felt about him.

It wasn't the newness of the relationship, she'd been through that period in relationships before and it hadn't been like this. Sure, those had been special at the time but this was at a whole new level. She had to face it, she had been looking for her 'one and done' and she might have finally found him. That thought made her freeze up in fright. It was ironic, she had faced down people with guns pointed at her but she was scared by a man who loved her, who had never done anything to deliberately harm her. She had to acknowledge the fact that she wasn't well equipped for this situation.

Badass cop? She can do that any day of the week. Girlfriend? She had done that too but this wasn't looking like the same thing. That had been a part-time thing for her in the past. This wasn't part-time; she didn't want to be apart from Rick. Oh, she could do it if she had to but she most definitely did not want to if she had a choice. She had to face it, she needed him and that was scary.

What if he decided she wasn't worth the trouble? What if he got tired of her? What if he found a new muse? What if he got killed for being near her? She felt her stomach clench at the thought but then some previous thoughts about Rick came back to her – thoughts while she'd been sitting on a swing in the rain. He had been there for four years. He'd kept coming back despite her efforts to push him away and his time with Gina and his whatever-it-was with the stewardess. He had even revealed his feelings first and still felt the same way after she'd hurt him – not just once but twice. No, she shouldn't be worrying about Rick leaving, she knew she would protect him with her own life but he had plenty of reason to worry about her leaving. She had no idea what to do about that though.

Curiosity drove her to get up, find something to put on and go out to see what he was up to. She came into the kitchen and he had his back to her as he worked at the stove. She got closer and saw him preparing pancakes and now she knew he must have shopped. There was no way she had what he needed for that. She grinned as she decided it was her turn to surprise him. She put her arms around him and snuggled into his back and brought her face close to his ear so she could whisper to him.

"Good morning, lover boy. What is Chef Castle creating for his woman?"

She enjoyed his chuckle in response. "I'm making pancakes but for a greeting like that, I'll make whatever you want."

"Pancakes sound good. When did you go shopping?"

"Just now. I've only been back for a few minutes."

"Since you're cooking, I'll set the table."

She gave him a pat on his rump as she moved by him to get some dishes so he gave her an amused look.

"Don't distract the cook or we may never get to eat."

"In that case, I'll wait until after breakfast to distract you."

He grinned, shook his head and returned to what he was cooking. She set the table and before she had time to consider what to do next, he arrived with a platter of pancakes. They sat down and started eating so her flirting was reduced to looks and occasional touches. They were both enjoying the game very much. Once the dishes were done, which they had made a game of too, she decided his reaction to the pet name thing had been pretty good.

"How about I call you Ricky?"

"Grade school."

"Writer-boy"

He just gave her an annoyed look.

"You used to call Josh Motorcycle-boy."

She instantly realized that had been the wrong thing to say. Stupid! Why bring up an ex? She was trying to come up with something funnier to say when he spoke.

"Lanie beat you to that one."

Ugh. He was right and she didn't use it as an affectionate term either. Bad, bad, bad.

"Sorry, bad idea."

"You seem like you are trying too hard. Why?"

Busted. He might be immature sometimes but he was never stupid. There was no funny comeback for this, she had to try honesty. She wasn't very good at that either.

"I'm… I'm trying to show you that this is important to me. I mean us."

"Kate. I kept coming back no matter what you did. All you have to do is quit trying to push me away and I'll be around so much you'll get sick of me."

He had her with just the way he'd said her name. How did he do that? She gave him a big smile with her reply. "I can't imagine that happening."

"I have two ex-wives that will tell you it is very possible."

"Then they are fools and it's their loss."

His response was a big grin that just made her want to kiss him but he got up and started getting ready to go. "I didn't plan ahead. I have a workout early this afternoon and Bud has made it clear that the only excuse for not showing up is being dead and even then he requires a note from the coroner."

She wasn't ready for him to leave yet and tried humor first. "I can get Lanie to write you a note."

He laughed and shook his head at her. "That's a good one but I want to keep this up. Besides, I still have to call him and see if you can come along. I'll go to my place and get my stuff together then I'll call you about coming along, OK?"

She bit her lip but realized that she was at least the main reason he was doing this if not the only one. "OK, I'll miss you."

She gave him a hug and a kiss before he could answer. "It won't be long and you'll probably be at the session with me. Wait until you meet my instructor Bud, he's a bit of a character."

She couldn't let an opportunity like that slip by. "More so than you?"

He narrowed his eyes at her but was still smiling. "Yes. More so than me."

He winked at her before he closed the door to her apartment and she instantly felt lonely. She was also a little annoyed at herself for not saying 'I love you'. Three little words, why was it so hard for her? Part of her knew why and she decided to push that thought away.

Later, Rick stared at his duffle bag as it lay on his bed and realized that he was all ready to go and was just delaying a call that was not going to get any less awkward in the future. There was plenty of time for Kate to join him and possibly for lunch as well. He huffed in irritation at himself and selected Bud from his call list. He decided to just be direct, much like Bud himself.

"Bud"

"Castle. I was wondering if Beckett could join the session too."

He heard a chuckle and then his response. "So, you want to take your girlfriend along?"

"She's interested in getting better too. My main reason for all this is to protect her better so it makes sense to me."

"Ok"

"Umm, do I owe you anything more for…."

Bud interrupted him, which was unusual. "That's not open for discussion."

Rick realized that it was probably a security thing to not discuss it on the phone. He'd also made it clear that what he was getting from Rick was a retainer and he was available for more training. Maybe that meant other things like providing protection too. Either way, he dropped it immediately. "See you at 1 then."

"Right"

Before he had a chance to say anything more, the call was over. Bud didn't seem mad at the end. Given how sore he was after a normal session, he certainly didn't want Bud to be mad. There had been no discussion about the particulars of their arrangement really. Bud had set the terms, take it or leave it and Rick had decided to take it. He was paying him enough for someone to live in NYC, if they weren't fussy but Rick quickly had realized that Bud was worth it. He had no idea where to find someone who could teach him all that Bud had. Also, he had no doubt that he was in the best shape of his life.

He selected Kate from his call list next.

Her voice was light and teasing as she answered. "Hello, sweetheart."

Rick couldn't help starting with a chuckle. "Bonjour, mon petite chou."

That got a laugh from Kate. "You do realize that means 'my little cabbage' don't you?"

"You do know that is a term of endearment in French, don't you?"

"Oooh, you're using French on me now?" She chuckled again before adding, "So am I invited for the workout?"

"You are. We can also meet here for lunch; I know a great place for heroes that delivers."

"When do we have to leave for the session?"

"About 12:30."

"OK, order something with turkey for me. I'll be there soon."

"I can't wait."

"Bye."

"Bye."

She wanted to hit herself. She'd want to say something like 'love you' but couldn't seem to pull it off. She was also anxious to see him even though he'd been gone for only a little over an hour. She really had it bad but something that made her so happy couldn't be bad. She was at his place in no time and was ready with a smile when he opened the door.

"Hello, honey."

Rick smirked before replying, "Hello, beautiful."

She blushed as she entered despite her wishes not to do that again. She stopped in confusion as he held up a key to her. It seemed rude not to take it but her confusion was obvious.

"It's your key to the loft."

Her blush was renewed as he closed the door behind her. He'd managed to throw her off her game again so she put it in a pocket and mumbled "Thanks."

He gently took her small duffle bag from her and she smiled at him as he placed it near the door. He made sure she was watching as he approached a large potted plant that she'd never paid attention to and was amazed when he opened a door in the pot and pulled out a side-handle police baton and showed it to her.

"Those are illegal."

"If I carry it around but this is for self-defense in my home." When she nodded, he placed it back and continued, "There's no trick, you just pull this side open, it's custom. Bud showed me how to use it, it's a nasty weapon."

"I know, that's why they're illegal."

"You know how to use one?"

"Yes"

"Great, now this is my standard security system. A good thief will know this system but that's why I also have a custom system."

She had noticed that console before but then she saw the playful gleam in his eyes and couldn't help grinning back at him. He took out his phone and opened an app and showed it to her.

"The system has facial and voice recognition. It monitors everything and there are cameras everywhere. It has backup power and if it is compromised it alerts a central location that will notify the police. It's state of the art." He turned to his phone and said, "Identify occupants."

_Rick Castle and guest._

The synthesized voice startled Kate and her eyes got bigger as he continued.

"Identify guest as Kate Beckett."

_Saved._

"Identify Kate Beckett as resident."

_Enter code._

She saw him type something into the app then heard the response

_Saved._

"The system monitors everything. I get alerts for a lot of things like someone not entering with a resident being alone here, that sort of thing. Residents aren't tracked as much so now the system won't be suspicious of you."

"You talk like it's alive."

"Not alive but not just a dumb alarm either. This cost me a lot and I'm not sure if it is generally available. Bud got me in touch with the guy who installed this."

He became concerned when she continued to look around with wide eyes. "Are you OK, Kate?"

"Yeah. I'm very impressed."

"Are you hungry too?"

That earned him a grin and a nod so they proceeded to the kitchen where their lunch was waiting for them. They only had 20 minutes before they had to leave so they did a lot more eating than talking. When they were done, they left the loft with their bags and holding hands. They were walking outside on their way to where they would meet Bud when Rick got the feeling they were being watched. He tried to be subtle about it but Kate quickly became interested in why he was so interested in their surroundings.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure, I have this feeling we're being watched."

"Cops learn to trust their gut. I'll stay alert too."

As they continued, he began wondering if they should continue to their destination or turn back but he never got a sense of danger. He decided to go in and warn Bud and let him decide. He got to a nondescript door to an apparently abandoned building and unlocked it. They both relaxed once he closed the door. Kate was surprised that there was another door with a sophisticated scan plate beside it that reacted when Rick put his right hand on it. The heavy metal door opened and before they went through it, Rick gestured upward at some cameras pointed at them that Kate hadn't been aware of.

She began to wonder what they were getting themselves into. This was obviously not just some veteran looking for a job, whoever this Bud was; he had resources at his disposal. She was surprised again when the high-tech ended abruptly. They were in a small industrial space that had been only partially cleaned and with lights that barely illuminated the area. There was one small room to the right with a beat-up old door that was only mostly closed. She could see a large punching bag hanging from a chain with a few pads and a pair of gloves piled near it. There were some free weights and a medicine ball in the room too.

Castle looked around as if puzzled then called, "Bud?" The only response was a slight echo from the high ceiling, they were alone.

"Is something wrong?"

"I'm not sure. He's always been ready and waiting for me. He knows we're coming." Rick took another look around before looking at Kate again. "I'll show you where I change." He led the way through the door and flicked on the lights. She found herself in a large, open bathroom with old, rusty-looking plumbing. "There's water so the toilet and the sink work."

She grimaced as she looked at the toilet and responded, "I wouldn't use it unless I absolutely had to."

Rick chuckled briefly before responding. "I feel the same way. I have only used the sink and that only once." He took a nervous look around before turning toward the door. "I'll let you change first."

It was Kate's turn to chuckle. "Getting modest on me Rick? I've already seen you in all your glory and you're welcome to look at me."

He gave her a startled look and when he saw her challenging expression, he quickly acquiesced. "Fine, we'll change together then."

She had thought she got through her challenge to him unscathed but she felt a little heat in her cheeks and even more when she noticed him glancing her way. Of course, she was keeping an eye on him too. She was disappointed when he started to look distracted and paid less attention to her. She tried not to think the worst but she was embarrassed and upset.

Rick was thrilled with her suggestion and was a little disconcerted about his assumption they would change separately. They were together, why had he done that? He was still enjoying the view and especially her spectacular legs when he realized that although she wasn't acting shy, she had turned so that her surgical scars were facing away from him. He also recalled that she hadn't seemed to like it if his hand lingered there. She was still trying to hide what she saw as her imperfections but that wasn't how he felt about it at all. He started pondering how to convince her that she was amazing just how she was.

His musings were interrupted when he heard the door open and Bud's voice. "Hurry up in there; we have a lot to do!"

He finished pulling on his sweat pants and started on his shoes as he answered back. "We weren't the ones who were late!"

"I may have been later, but I am definitely not late. It isn't one yet."

After pulling on his last shoe, he glanced at his watch and saw that Bud was correct as usual. It was 12:58. He hurried out to tell Bud his suspicions about being watched and was surprised when Kate was right behind him.

"Bud, we may have been followed…"

"Nice situational awareness, Rick!"

"Oh." Rick was a little taken aback when he realized that it must have been Bud who was watching them. Was that an advance exercise for the session or was something else going on? That was a good question but he decided to defer it for later. He didn't bother asking Bud since he wouldn't expect an answer.

Kate was very curious to meet this mysterious man who had been helping Rick out so much. She hung back as they spoke and she observed. He was not physically imposing and in fact he seemed a bit smaller than Rick although not by much. However, his eyes practically gave her a chill down her spine. He seemed to assess her with a glance and if he had been a suspect, he would be one that she would be very careful with. He seemed to ooze confidence and capability. His hair was short and mostly gray. He was obviously quite fit and it appeared he had spent a lot of time outdoors. That just made it harder to try to pinpoint an age. He could be anywhere from his 40's to his 60's, she really would have a hard time guessing.

Rick turned partway towards Kate and held a hand out in her direction as he started to speak to Bud again. "Bud, this is Kate Beckett, Kate, this is Bud."

"It's nice to finally meet you, Detective."

His handshake was very firm but not intimidating and his smile seemed genuine, so she forced herself to relax. "It's nice to meet you too, Bud. So, you were the one who was following us?"

Rick looked closely for Bud's reaction and it was pretty much what he expected, a not-so-sincere smile and a change in subject.

"Rick, you start your exercises while I see what I can do for your girlfriend here. So, Detective, what is it you would like to work on with me?"

She glanced at Rick who was stretching and then back to Bud. "I was just in a fight that I was losing. I'd like some pointers on what I could have done better. I'll probably want to learn whatever you are teaching Rick too. Maybe some exercises to improve my strength. I wasn't able to match the strength of the man I was fighting."

"It's not necessarily the strongest person who wins the fight. There are some exercises that can make your moves more effective, I'll point them out when your boyfriend is doing them – Hey! Rick! More time focusing on your routine and less eavesdropping!"

Rick hid his grimace and started pushing himself a little harder. Bud certainly wasn't going to go any easier on him with another student to distract him, not that he really expected that.

"OK, let's go over what happened in your fight and I'll give you my opinion on what you could have done better."

They ended up going through each part of her fight with Maddox and she was astonished at all of the suggestions he had for her. That and some general suggestions for her were interspersed with her being directed to watch exercises that Rick was doing, especially when he was working with large resistance bands that she hadn't even noticed before.

Next, he demonstrated some moves and he had them practice attacks and defenses against each other. Kate couldn't resist making it competitive between them but was surprised when he was faster and stronger than she had imagined. She was forcefully reminded that her image of him as a somewhat soft writer was out of date. He had been working out and training and if for some bizarre reason they got into a real fight, she might not fare very well. She took it as a challenge but was careful never to get carried away as Rick was obviously doing the same. In fact, she sometimes suspected he wasn't trying as hard as he should but she decided to not bring it up. After all, she didn't want to risk hurting him either.

She nearly laughed out loud when she saw his face after Bud suggested that the two of them spar against each other. After looking at him like he'd grown a second head, he flatly refused. She was especially glad that she hadn't used that to tease him when she saw Bud and Rick sparring. She winced several times at strikes they made against each other, mostly from Bud. Much to her surprise, Rick actually knocked Bud down once but he was so surprised that he didn't take advantage of the opportunity and lost once again. He also got a tongue lashing that had her feeling defensive of him and Rick looking grim.

Bud summarized what they had gone over and told Kate she'd be doing the exercises she'd seen Rick doing before the next time they met. When they were dismissed, she couldn't resist testing Bud's acting abilities since she was nearly certain he must be the one who'd saved her.

"Before we go, Bud, I wanted to thank you."

He didn't really react at all as he just stared at her when he responded. "For what?" It was Rick who reacted momentarily before clearing his face to give her the confirmation she'd been looking for.

"For everything you've done for Rick. He looks really good naked now."

She got a slight reaction that time as it appeared like Bud had tasted something unpleasant. "Most things are on a need to know basis, Detective. I did **not** need to know that."

Kate and Rick laughed but Bud barely cracked a smile. He warned them to be ready for more the day after tomorrow at the same time as they left to change. Rick flirted with her a little as they changed and Kate blushed for most of their time in the old bathroom. When they emerged to leave, there was no sign of Bud but Rick said that was typical.

They talked briefly about Bud early in their walk back to the loft. Rick was pretty sure that Bud had been a Navy Seal due to a comment early in their first session about BUD/S, which apparently was the training camp for Navy Seals. They held hands the whole way, which was nice but as they neared the loft, Rick became more and more pensive and Kate got more and more curious.

When they arrived, they saw nobody there and Rick became serious and indicated that he wanted a private conversation in his bedroom. He wasn't dragging her by her hand since she was coming willingly enough but his pull was rather insistent. It began to make Kate nervous, what was so important? Once she was well into the bedroom he went back and closed the door and then turned to her looking rather intense. He was looking so solemn but he wasn't saying anything yet and it was just nerve-wracking for her.

"What's wrong?"

He looked up at her like he had no idea what she was talking about. Then he seemed to realize what she meant and gave her a quick hug while apologizing. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I was just trying to find the right words. I have something important to tell you."

The hug was nice but what he said really wasn't much help, she was still worried. He pulled back and looked at her. He pulled her more gently with him as he approached the bed. He then sat on the edge and pulled her down into his lap with a smile. Now this was starting to seem much better to her. She gave him an encouraging smile as he seemed to be getting ready to say something.

He gave her a look that got her heart racing and then said something that made her blush. "You are so beautiful." She was about to respond when he put a finger over her lips and said, "Let me finish." He looked at her like he was expecting her to object so she decided to kiss his finger instead, which much to her delight, seemed to shock him before he removed his finger and smiled back at her again.

"I am starting to think that you believe I have unrealistic expectations about you. I am not interested in a supermodel, I have never expected to find anyone who is perfect and I'm not interested in Nikki Heat. She's just a figment of my imagination that makes it easier for me to make money writing books. I have known you for four years, we have both shown each other our bad sides, shared some of our darkest moments together and I love you, Kate. Not some fictional version of you, not some idealized image in my head. I. Love. You."

"Scars just mean we've survived something Kate. They make you whole again. If you had not been stubborn enough to come back after you got shot, you wouldn't have scars but you also wouldn't be here anymore. I think your scars are beautiful, Kate. They are part of you. They are part of this amazing and sometimes infuriating woman that you are, the woman that I love."

He punctuated his little speech with a fierce kiss that nearly overwhelmed her. When he had started talking, she didn't really get what his point was. As soon as he started talking about scars, she realized that he had noticed how she tried to avoid them with their interactions. He had caught her and then told her that they didn't matter in a way she didn't know how to argue with. She ignored the tears in her eyes as she kissed him back as fiercely as he was kissing her. Things were getting very heated as they clung to each other and kept kissing each other until they both had to break apart to catch their breaths.

She leaned her forehead into his and when she had regained her breath enough to speak she whispered something to him. "I love you."


	4. Newsflash

A/N: Thanks for the continuing encouragement. I still don't own them.

Two days later Kate woke up alone in Rick's bed and was a little chagrined that he'd gotten up before her again. She was getting lazy during her suspension. She no longer wondered why they only worked out with Bud every other day as Rick had still been sore last night. After seeing them spar, she wasn't surprised. She also knew it would be harder on her next time and they both might be sore after today's session. She was glad that she had moved a few things from her place to Rick's, she could make it a few days with what she had with her now.

She quickly took care of business in the bathroom and as she exited the bedroom she wondered what Rick was making for breakfast but was surprised that although he'd obviously made coffee, he was just sitting there staring at the newspaper. Wait, he seemed stunned, what was going on?

He reacted to her approach by pulling the front page out of the section he was reading and handing it to her. "You aren't going to believe this."

She was surprised to see a picture of Maddox on the front page. However, it wasn't a picture that would have come from NYPD, it was a picture of a soldier that was slightly younger than when she had seen him. However, she quickly saw they were calling him Cedric Marks and had details about his military career and then she began to read more intently when they indicated that he was an employee of Arantus Solutions, which was identified as a private military contractor.

The article was making it very obvious that this man who should have been a hero of sorts, had died fighting the police and was a suspect in Beckett's shooting and the killing of a fellow former military member. There were no details about the investigation involving Orlando Costas or any indication that there was any sort of link to him trying to kill Beckett and him killing Costas but there were a lot of other details. They even had some information about Costas being an MP in Germany.

She ran out of article to read but she'd read enough to know why Rick seemed so stunned. She dropped her hands to the counter, which made Rick look at her with a little concern so she felt compelled to say something. "You're right, I wasn't expecting this. I wonder why Ryan never mentioned this."

"I've read more of the article and I don't think the NYPD was a source for this. He'll probably be as surprised as we are."

"Then who?"

"They don't say."

"Smith?"

"That wouldn't make sense. Why would he release the information that he's using for leverage? Also, what he has came from Montgomery and he was dead before Marks became involved. How would he have known?"

"Was there anything about who is behind Arantus Solutions?"

"Unfortunately, no. I couldn't find anything to indicate who 'the dragon' might be."

"Damn!"

He gave her a sympathetic look before giving her a quick hug and a kiss on her temple. "I'll start breakfast." She continued reading the rest of the paper but didn't find anything that was important beyond what Rick had already told her. She had mixed feelings about the whole thing and ate somewhat half-heartedly but she tried to reassure Rick that she was fine. Later, Alexis was as stunned as the rest of them, especially when she saw how Kate was involved in it.

Suddenly a cell phone rang and Kate was surprised when it turned out to be hers. Since Alexis was still present, she didn't put her phone on speaker when she saw it was Ryan calling. "How are you, Ryan?" "What?" "Oh." "Just a second."

Rick had seen that she was slightly alarmed by whatever news she got from Ryan so she already had his full attention when she covered her phone with a hand and spoke quietly to him.

"Gates wants us to come in for questioning. HQ wants to know who knew what and when. It will cover Costas, the rooftop and Montgomery's death."

"When?"

"As soon as possible."

Rick sighed and looked down for a moment before looking at her again. "I'll warn Bud we might not be able to make it, we'd better get this over with."

Her return look at Rick looked desperate, she was very much afraid of what would come of this. She had just gotten together with Rick and was terrified that something might pull them apart so soon. Rick gave her an encouraging smile and whispered, "We've been through worse."

She really hoped he was right. She slowly brought the phone back up to her face and said, "We'll be in soon." She paused and then said, "Bye."

She grabbed Rick's nearest hand and hoped she wasn't squeezing too hard. She tried to return his smile but she was fighting tears so she doubted that it looked very convincing. She felt even worse when she saw how worried Alexis was. She immediately worked on regaining her composure as Rick went over to speak with Alexis.

"Don't worry, Pumpkin. We aren't the ones who did something wrong." She gave him a fierce hug and tried to put on a brave face but after she let go and her father continued on towards his office, Kate could tell that Alexis was still badly shaken.

She went over to Alexis and spoke softly to her. "He's right, we'll be fine." Alexis' only reaction was a sniff so she impulsively hugged the teenager. She was embarrassed when she realized that Alexis was startled and not returning the hug. Her face began to burn as she began to let go but then everything was fine again when Alexis responded with a very firm hug of her own and nearly clung to Kate.

Alexis' voice was slightly muffled when she finally spoke. "You'll have each other's backs, right?"

Kate was surprised that she used phrasing that meant a lot to cops but then she realized that besides whatever she may have picked up from her father, she had been around the station and the morgue herself. She'd definitely had the opportunity to know exactly what that meant. Only one response was possible in Kate's mind. "We're partners. We'll always have each other's backs."

The word 'Always' seemed to ring in her mind but that had special meaning only to Castle and her. Nobody else would understand the depth of that word for them. Those thoughts helped Kate steady herself. She and her partner would face all comers and anyone who tried to break them apart would have a fight on their hands.

The background noise of a brief call made by Castle never really registered with her but she suddenly noticed that he was standing there watching them with a huge smile on his face. She blushed slightly as he beamed at the two of them and Alexis seemed to become aware of things as they let go of each other and she looked at her father too.

Alexis managed a small smile and said. "I'm fine. Just take care of each other."

"We will." She felt a chill when his smile at her seemed to say 'Always'.

"I called for a car too. We can head down whenever."

"I'll grab my jacket."

When she came back out, she saw Rick reassuring Alexis again and couldn't help smiling herself. When he saw her, they said goodbye to Alexis and walked hand-in-hand out the door and over to the elevator. They never let go until it was time to get into the car. Rick made a call to his mother to get her up to date and ask her to check in on Alexis. She took a bit of reassuring too but she promised to go to the loft. They held hands in silence until they arrived at the precinct and Rick told the driver that he'd call when they were ready to return.

She gave his hand a squeeze and let go before they started to leave. "We can't be a couple in the precinct."

"I know." She could tell that he wasn't any happier about it than she was.

She tried to control her nervousness as they rode the elevator up but Castle seemed very distracted but calm. She was impressed by his outward serenity when they emerged into the bullpen and Ryan saw them right away and waved with a smile before hurrying over to meet them.

"We're going to split you up for the questioning. Beckett, Gates is going to talk to you."

Kate tried very hard to make her only reaction a curt nod. Rick only gave her a supportive look. Kevin led them towards Gates' office but she saw them before they arrived and hurried out to meet them. She didn't appear angry when she started talking to them.

"Detective, Mr. Castle. Neither of you are the subject of an investigation but the headlines have caught a lot of attention and important people want answers. I appreciate that you are both making yourselves available for this promptly. We'll do our best to make this as short as possible. Detective, you are with me in interrogation one, Mr. Castle, you go with Detective Ryan to interrogation two."

Rick followed Kevin and was a little surprised when Kevin stopped before opening the door and spoke to him quietly. "I have to record this, orders. We'll take it slow and easy, OK?"

Rick nodded and replied just as softly, "Thanks."

Once they were both seated, Kevin began.

"I am Detective second class Kevin Ryan, 12th Precinct. Mr. Castle, please state you name and occupation for the record."

"Richard Castle, writer."

"Did you have anything to do with the release of the information about the suspect Cedric Marks?"

"No, I did not."

"Do you know anything about his death?"

Rick focused on showing no reaction to the question. "No, I do not."

"Do you have any information about the Costas case other than what the NYPD already has?"

"No, I do not."

"OK, now we need to talk about the death of Captain Montgomery."

Kevin gave him a regretful look but Rick only responded with a relaxed nod.

Captain Gates paused very briefly before opening the door to the interrogation room. "This will be recorded."

She did not wait for any sort of response so Kate gave her none. When they were settled, Gates began by starting the date, time and who was present while Kate waited as calmly as possible for the first question.

Rick finished first and made sure that he parted on good terms with Kevin. He had certainly made it easy to be interrogated. He was surprised to see Esposito waiting but then he realized that he shouldn't have been. Javier ignored Ryan and spoke to Rick.

"Hey, bro. Are you done with the inquisition?"

"Yes, is it your turn?"

"I guess."

Kevin spoke up. "I can take you in two."

Javier's only response was a very brief glare.

"Or you can wait until Gates is free." Kevin nodded towards interrogation one.

Javier grimaced and saw Castle narrow his eyes and nod toward Ryan while Ryan couldn't see him.

"Fine, let's get this over with." Javier wasn't very gracious but he sounded more resigned than angry.

Rick watched as Kevin apparently gave Javier the same warning that he'd received and saw Javier's curt nod in response before they went in. As much as he hoped those two could bury the hatchet, he was much more interested in how Kate was doing so he went to the observation room for interrogation one. He instantly noted that the sound was off so all he could do is watch them.

Although he could tell that Kate was tense, she did not seem to be under duress and Gates seemed to be unemotional and taking things slowly. Kate did most of the talking and he wished he could read lips. He started to have difficulty remaining tranquil while he waited but then they were finally done.

When he saw her expression as they emerged, he just wanted to hug her but he had to keep his distance, especially since Gates seemed a little surprised that he was waiting. Kate noted her boss' reaction and decided to say something.

"I'm spending some time with my partner while I'm on leave."

"I see. So that's why I haven't seen you around, Mr. Castle."

"You won't see me until Detective Beckett returns."

"Very good, Mr. Castle."

Gates turned and left Rick a little puzzled about exactly what she meant. She was probably just glad to be rid of him but it was hard to tell with her. He saw that Kate seemed a bit disconcerted as well but there was no reason to hang around. He nodded towards the elevator and she immediately headed that way as he followed. They waited silently for the elevator and it was empty so when the doors closed, she immediately enclosed him in a tight hug which he gladly returned.

"How did it go?"

"Not bad, she took it easy on me. I was surprised. You?"

"Ryan didn't push at all and only one bad question but I was ready for it. I'm good."

They had to part quickly when the elevator reached the ground floor and the wait for the car was trying. They immediately cuddled together when they were in the car. Once they had relaxed he checked the time.

"If we skip lunch, we can be on time for the session with Bud."

"I don't think I can eat anyway. Taking my aggravation out on something sounds good."

"Agreed. This way we also won't have Bud hunting us down either."

She answered with a dry chuckle and they said no more until they arrived at the loft. They were eagerly greeted by two worried women upon their arrival and they quickly reassured Rick's family that all was well. They regretfully gathered what they needed and set out again for the walk to their workout.

Rick started out walking and enjoying the fresh air and holding Kate's hand. Then he got the feeling of being watched again and tried to ignore it, assuming that it was Bud again. However, he started to feel a sense of menace and started looking around with not much thought to being subtle. Kate seemed to be on the same page and was very attentive too. It got bad enough that he couldn't just keep walking.

"Let's jog."

They were in casual clothes so they didn't look too odd and Kate was surprised at how quickly he was covering distance, she had to push herself a little to keep up. They arrived at the door slightly out of breath but the feeling of danger had waned so he didn't rush opening the door. He was still relieved when he closed the door.

"Did you feel it?"

"Yeah, creepy."

"There's something I need to show you."

He palmed the scanner and the door opened and he led her to the far end of the room that wasn't cleaned. As before, there was no sign of Bud. Rick moved a large piece of plywood leaning against the wall to reveal an old LCD screen. He turned it on and they saw a view from above the outside door. He pushed a video switcher to another setting and they saw a view looking the way they had come from. He slowly pushed buttons for other views until they returned to the original. They had seen nothing alarming.

"If that was nothing, Bud will really let me know about it."

He turned the monitor off and put the board back in front of it. They made their way to the bathroom and changed but concentrated on what they were doing rather than peeking or flirting. Rick was surprised that Bud still wasn't around and checked his watch and it was 1:01. That was a first for Bud being late.

He looked at Kate and she gave him a serious look back. "Not such a great way to relieve tension so far, is it?"

That got a smile from her so he decided to wait a bit more. The silence started to get tense again so he was about to suggest checking the monitor again when he heard what sounded like the outside door. He moved against the wall near the door while Kate moved to the other side. Rick relaxed when he saw it was Bud, who raised his eyebrow when he saw Rick lying in wait and then looked around the door to see Beckett ready to pounce as well.

"Not bad you two. Sort of makes up for how unsubtle you two were earlier."

Rick huffed in irritation and went over to start stretching and exercising. He was surprised to note that there was now two of everything needed for the exercises. Bud concentrated on Kate since she didn't know all of the exercises yet but he did find a few opportunities to prod Rick as well. They heard a cell phone go off in the bathroom but they all ignored it.

Later they practiced the moves from last time and a few new ones that Bud added. Rick again declined to spar with Kate and she worked on pounding the bag when she wasn't watching them spar. She felt that Bud could have beaten Marks and Rick probably would have done better than she did. In a way that was humbling but getting beat up by Marks had already done a good job of that so it wasn't a big deal. By the end of the session, she thought it was nice to have such a tough boyfriend. She was used to being the protector but if it was Rick, she wouldn't mind being the protected one once in a while. She wouldn't tell him that though, his ego was big enough as it was.

She was too tired to be anxious again so she hoped that there would be no more drama that day. They got a little silly while they were changing but it felt so good to laugh. Rick checked his phone and saw that Paula had called. He listened to the message and his grimace had her curious. When he had listened to the message and erased it, all he said was, "We'll handle this later." As before, Bud was gone when they got out and thankfully, there was no sense of danger when they returned to the loft.

When they entered the loft, they only saw Alexis, who was curled up with a book. They both entered the bedroom and collapsed on the bed at the same time which made both of them chuckle. After a moment, Rick sighed and sat up again while taking out his phone. "Paula's a little wound up about you being on the front page. I have to give her a call." He waited for her to answer and then greeted her unenthusiastically. "What's up Paula?"

His phone didn't need to be on speaker for Kate to hear the response while Rick jerked the phone away from his ear. "What's up?! Your _muse_ is on the front page and you ask **me** what's up?! How can I do my damn job when I have no idea **what's up**?!"

After a groan and an apologetic look at Kate, Rick returned the phone to his ear and spoke calmly back. "Paula, I had no idea that article was coming out. Kate and I are in a difficult situation and we don't know what is going on either. We don't know who's behind all this and we don't know what will happen next."

Fortunately, Paula's response was a lot quieter and Rick listened intently. "I appreciate anything you can do, Paula. Also, try to look out for Kate too on this please." He suddenly shot Kate a worried look. "That can't get into the media…." He grimaced again and said, "Just a second" before putting the phone face down on the bed and whispering to Kate. "Paula suspects about us. She says she will try to cover for us both with the media but she has to know what is really going on. She says she'll try to keep our status secret but she wants to know."

Kate was very irritated about being in this situation but she was also cognizant of the fact that Paula and especially Castle were not responsible for it and they didn't deserve any of her ire. "Tell her what she needs to know and thank her for me."

Rick nodded with a smile and turned his attention back to Paula and wrapped up the call by telling her what he could. He tried to apologize again but Kate finally had to shut him up with a fierce kiss. "I am not mad at you; I do not blame you or Paula, OK?"

Rick nodded a bit sheepishly, and she pulled him back down with her to lie on the bed together. After relaxing for a few minutes, Kate spoke.

"I'd been thinking of spending the night at my apartment tonight, alone."

Rick turned his head to look sharply at her but she smiled back. "I changed my mind. Things are too tense; I think we need to stick together."

Rick agreed with her with a smile and a squeeze of her hand. Gradually, they both started breathing more slowly and they both fell asleep for a nap. Alexis thought they were cute when she checked on them later.

She had a vague sense of déjà-vu as she and Castle walked down the street hand-in-hand. She was just beginning to sense that something was wrong when there was a bright flash and a booming crack and when she could finally see clearly again, she saw a body on the sidewalk posed exactly as she had seen Marks except that it was Castle. She only had a moment as the grief began to hit her when suddenly there were flashes and booms all around her as a hidden sniper tried to kill her too. She ran around but didn't leave Castle, even in death she could not bear to leave him alone.

She startled awake to find Rick bending over her, with a look of great concern. She was so glad to see him alive and well that she lunged up and gripped him in a stifling hug that she quickly realized that she should loosen up a little. She clung to him and tried to calm her breathing and prevent her tears before they started. She pushed away thoughts of the familiarity of what she was feeling. That was in the past, she couldn't be regressing, not now.

"What happened, Kate?"

"Bad dream." She was glad that he couldn't see her face as she was ashamed that she still wasn't calm enough to form complete sentences. She had to be strong now, not fall apart.

"This isn't all on you, Kate. We're in this together. Always."

Somehow, he always knew what to say. She gripped him tighter again but in gratitude and affection rather than desperation. She was eventually able to relax and pull back to give him a real smile. She wasn't completely relieved though as she knew she had just had a panic attack. She had to watch for more signs of PTSD and she felt like she was letting Rick down.

"I just had a bad moment. I'm fine."

His expression implied that he wasn't completely convinced but he did give her a caring smile that reassured her. Her stomach chose that moment to complain about not eating much at breakfast and skipping lunch altogether. They were both amused as Rick helped her stand again.

"I'm hungry too. I'll go see what we have to eat."

She nodded and slowly headed to the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw that her minimal makeup was surprisingly intact and although she could tell she'd just woken up and her hair needed fixing, she did not look as frazzled as she felt. Good, she'd be able to reassure everyone she was fine as long as she held it together. She knew a team was only as strong as its weakest member and she couldn't afford to let down Rick or his family. She fixed her hair and went out determined to more than carry her own weight in whatever was going on.

When she emerged she saw Rick and Alexis working side by side quietly and they seemed so well coordinated together. She was proud of how good a father Rick was but she was a little jealous and concerned as well. She was used to them finishing each other's sentences and even speaking simultaneously but he was also very connected to his daughter. She also wondered what sort of relationship she would have with Alexis. She wasn't her mother but her mother wasn't around. They'd had a good hug earlier but that was in a tense situation, could they work side by side like that? Maybe not yet, but someday?

She pushed those thoughts aside for later. They had to get through this storm first. She joined them and helped, feeling a little more like she was part of the team again. They all ate together so obviously Alexis must have had some trouble eating lunch, worried for her father. They started a movie marathon but the adults' taste for violent movies eventually sent her up to her room. They got hungry again so had some popcorn and later some ice cream. Afterwards, Rick paused the movie when his phone rang and he saw it was Bud.

He decided to put the phone on speaker when he verified that Alexis was not around. "Castle."

"Rick, things are getting hot. You should stay put at your apartment and lessons are cancelled. Keep on working out but it isn't worth the risk to leave. If for some reason you, your daughter or girlfriend need to leave, call me first. Starting tonight, I think you should initiate lockdown every night."

He was momentarily stunned speechless and exchanged a worried glance with Kate.

"What's going on?"

"Need to know, Rick."

"Not good enough, Bud. You have to tell me something if you think lockdown is necessary."

"The dragon is getting another kick in the ass tomorrow. We don't know what's going to happen next."

"My mother…"

"She's covered."

"You said 'we'."

"I'm not alone. Someone else is covering your mother. Don't worry about him; he's saved me in the past. He's better than me, actually. She's being protected by the best. If things get too hot we may have to convince her to move to the loft for a while. We're not quite there yet, but we are close."

"You know who the dragon is."

"Of course but you aren't hearing that from me so don't ask."

He glanced at Kate and she looked grim but when she saw him looking she gave him a small smile.

"OK, I'll start lockdown soon. I have to talk to Alexis first."

"Good. Later."

The call ended just like that. He looked at Kate again. "You OK?"

"What is lockdown?"

"It's another mode for the custom security system. The surveillance will now include the entrance, the elevator, stairway and our hall. The door is custom, it has extra deadbolts so it would take a long time to get in that way. There will also be some active protection on the windows. If anyone tries to break in, they'll be in for a nasty surprise."

"Fatal?"

"Not from what happens but if they fall…."

"Is it legal?"

"I've been told it is."

She looked around the loft before speaking again. "They could shoot through the windows…"

"Actually, no. they added bulletproof glass. It would take major explosives to get us here. They could do that, of course, but that would attract a lot of attention. Bud hinted in the past that there is a safe house if necessary but since he didn't mention it again just now, they must not consider it necessary yet."

Her voice was very quiet. "You should talk to Alexis."

"Are you OK?"

She took a deep breath before answering. "I'm scared, I won't deny that but I'm with you. I'm ready to make my stand if that's what it comes to. I have someone that I can stand with." Her look at him was so intense, he didn't know what to say so he grabbed her in a hug and she hugged him back just as emphatically. They whispered "Always" at the same time and they both choked out chuckles before settling down again.

"I'll go talk to Alexis now."

"I'll wait here." She squeezed his hand as he stood to leave. She wasn't sure she would be a good source of reassurance to Alexis with the way her heart was pounding and how overwhelmed she felt. She'd meant every word. If she was to die, she'd die with Castle and go down fighting. She just wasn't ready to die yet. She had waited so long for her inevitable relationship with Rick and this just seemed so unfair. They'd had less than a week!

She was trying the PTSD exercise to calm down and realized the movie they'd been watching was a negative factor now so she hit stop and turned off the TV. She felt a little better and just hoped the PTSD wasn't coming back. Dr. Burke had warned her it was possible and this seemed like just the thing that could pull her back down into that hellhole. She refused to be a liability just as Rick had. She'd fight the PTSD too if she had to.

Rick looked calmer than she expected when he returned. "She accepted it. She had no urgent plans so we're going to see a lot of each other for a while." They exchanged grim smiles and then Rick opened an app on his phone and said, "Initiate Lockdown".

_Lockdown_

They heard the synthesized voice then clicking noises from the door but nothing else. He showed her his phone and she recognized the lobby of the building with a view of the outside door. "I'll be alerted if any stranger enters the building or if there is any activity near the windows. The only other door outside has an alarm on it if it opens, it's only for emergencies."

She looked impressed. "I guess we're reasonably safe here then."

"Yeah, but we're trapped. I hate this."

"Let's go to bed."

He gave her a quizzical look so she explained more. "I need to cuddle."

"Yeah, sounds good."

It felt good to cuddle in bed but it took them a long time to sleep that night. First it was the surprise of Kate wanting to cuddle. She was affectionate in her own way and very bold during their lovemaking but Kate had never struck him as a cuddler. He wondered if this was a new side of her or if it was just this situation and he'd better enjoy it while it lasted.

She'd been so quiet that he was nearly startled when she spoke. "You seem distracted."

"Just a little surprised that Kate Beckett has turned into a cuddler."

Her laugh resembled a snort so she tried to stifle further reaction. "Don't push it or it'll be the last cuddling you ever get."

"That occurred to me too."

"You seemed a little distracted after the interrogation too."

He stifled a sigh. Yes, it was definitely going to be hard to keep anything from a significant other who was a detective. He'd just better get used to it. "The interrogation included Montgomery's death."

"Yeah. Mine too." She suddenly lifted her head to look at him. "Kevin didn't bring up Montgomery's involvement did he?"

He gave her a surprised look. "Of course not. You know Kevin better than that."

She shook her head in chagrin. "Right. Sorry, that was a stupid question."

"Gates didn't act like she knew something, did she?"

"No. You're right. Ryan wouldn't talk."

Rick sighed and that was enough to get her started again. "Does it still bother you?"

"Sometimes. You getting shot kind of pushed that to the side. I had some nightmares."

"Me too. Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"Well, I was surprised that you let me drag you out of the hangar."

"Castle, you're bigger and stronger than me. It shouldn't have been a shock."

"But I've seen you fight. You can be devastating. It seems like you could have kept me from taking you away."

She was quiet for several seconds and he was beginning to think the subject was closed but then she spoke softly. "Montgomery knew me very well and made a wise choice. I would have fought Espo or Ryan tooth and nail but not you. I couldn't hurt you."

"Weren't you still mad at me then?"

"No. I didn't say anything until later because I was stubborn. Even then I couldn't stay mad at you."

"I thought part of the reason you left that summer was that you were so mad at me."

"Oh, Castle. I'm so sorry. I wish I could do it over. I should have let you help me then. I probably would have been ready to commit to you sooner if I had. I had too much pride and too little courage. I didn't deserve you then and I'm not sure I deserve you now."

"Don't I have a say in that?"

He turned to face her and she looked at him with a tremulous smile. He couldn't bear the uncertainty he saw in her face and tried to kiss it away. Things quickly became heated and sleep just had to wait until other needs were met.

In a secluded office in Washington, DC:

He knew this was going to be a bad meeting but it looked even worse when Bracken entered looking tired and already angry. "I need good news."

He kept his face stoic. "Don't have any of that, sorry." He couldn't help it, he was fed up with the grief he'd been getting for things that were out of his control. He didn't react to the venomous look he got from the Senator.

"What do we have from the surveillance on Castle and Beckett?"

On to the bad news already, fantastic. "Nothing. There were no bugs placed and our agent has missed two check-ins. I don't know if he has deserted or was taken."

"How about Smith?"

"Still no sign of him and our agent has no new leads."

Bracken slammed his fist on the table and glared at the wall. "Put two men on Castle."

"I don't have any men to spare."

"What do you mean?" Bracken's voice was low and menacing.

"I already told you about recruiting…"

"I don't want any God damn excuses! I want action!"

"Seven of our agents have died in the last two years! They were our best! Since we lost Lockwood and the rest recruiting has been awful. Nobody wants to work for Arantus…"

"Then hire a free lancer."

"Do you know of one we can trust?"

"That's your damn job!"

"Face it, Senator. Nobody wants to work for us."

"What about our remaining agents?"

"All busy. We don't have much business, we've been losing contracts and agents. Jennings terminated our contract today and our agents on that case have all quit."

"Pull someone from another contract."

"Arantus is hanging by a thread, if we…"

"I don't God damn care! Pull all of them!"

"We can't pull out of the overseas deal, you know that. Do you seriously want…"

"Fine! Everybody except that!"

"That's only three men and it will take time to get them in place…"

"Do it and pull the one on Smith too! He can look for Smith later."

"That agent can be in place within hours."

"Good. I want to know what happens. Do we still have the cell phone surveillance up on their place?"

"Yes but he's been getting some encrypted calls, not all are available to us."

"I was right! It's that damned Castle!" He thought for a few seconds and continued. "Get in contact with the Kings, it's time they were useful. We need an assassin. I want Castle and Beckett dead stat!"

"As you wish."

Bracken left abruptly and slammed the door behind him. The man going by the name of Robert Woods stared at the door. He was sick of Bracken and sick of his job but he was also in a very bad situation. If he ran, he'd have to run for the rest of his life. It was definitely time for contingency plans though.

The next morning, at Rick's loft:

They woke at the same time but a little later than usual and took turns dressing and using the bathroom. When Rick was ready first he emerged to find Alexis starting breakfast. She looked like she might be slightly under slept but otherwise fine. He realized he couldn't get the newspaper with lockdown on so switched to enhanced mode and approached the door when he heard the clicks again.

When he picked up the paper, he saw familiar faces again, Lockwood and the men he'd worked with. It didn't take long to see they were all linked to Arantus Solutions also. He walked slowly to the kitchen and was intrigued to see they had more information on the company but still didn't name the people in charge. When Kate joined them, he passed the newspaper over without comment and helped Alexis finish their breakfast and bring it to the table.

"What does it say, Dad?"

"There is more about the mysterious company that employs the men that came after us. They also identify the earlier henchmen. They say there's more to come."

Alexis thought about that for a few moments and the silence began to seem uncomfortable to her. "Do you have any plans today?"

"Not really. We're pretty much confined to the building."

She thought about that and when she was done eating she brought her dishes to the sink and announced, "I have an idea for something we can do. I'll see you later."

Rick looked at her leave and turned to Kate who was still preoccupied. "I wonder what she's up to."

He saw a teasing grin from Kate and wondered what she was up to as well. "Don't worry about it Rick. She's the level-headed Castle, remember?"

He narrowed his eyes at her but she just smiled back until he gave up. "Do you have a punching bag of some sort?"

"Yeah, I've got one of the ones that stands by itself."

"Gloves?"

"Yes."

"Good, I want to hit something."

He grinned back. "Better the bag than me."

She leaned closer to him before answering in a sexy whisper. "I prefer doing other things with you."

He responded with a big grin "Like what?"

"Well, like what we did last night."

"Oh, yes. That. Care for a rematch?"

"Down boy." She grinned at him and gave him a quick kiss. Before they could do any more, her cell phone rang.

He saw her glance at her phone, frown and hesitate before answering. "Beckett" She listened and surprise showed on her face. "Agent Shaw? What can I help you with?" Castle was getting frustrated with only hearing her part of the conversation. She blushed, glanced at him and said, "Um, yes." Another pause then, "What?" She listened with wide eyes then she said, "Really?" He became uneasy as she seemed to become more anxious the longer she listened. "Well, yeah. He does have a contact…" She looked at Castle with concern then, "Are they going to arrest us?" Now he was really worried until she seemed to become a little relieved. "Thank you for the information, Agent Shaw. I appreciate it." Kate blushed again, said "Thanks" and then ended the call "Bye".

"You are going to have to tell me what that was about before I have a heart attack. What's going on?"

"As you probably heard, that was Jordan Shaw. She called about chatter going around the FBI and even the CIA."

"The CIA? About what?"

"About the news about Marks. Castle, they investigated us. Somebody powerful wants to know who leaked the information about the shooter."

"They're coming after us?"

"Not anymore, or at least not officially. They're still trying to figure out who did it. The CIA somehow is involved too. Shaw knew about your CIA contact."

"Sofia is dead… oh, she must mean the other guy." When he saw Kate's expression as she stared at him, he was sorry that he had spoken up.

"Yes, the _**live**_ contact, Castle." Fortunately, she was wearing her teasing grin so he was still good.

"So what was the part where you blushed?"

She sighed and responded, "I was hoping you wouldn't ask about that." He just grinned at her until she rolled her eyes. "She asked about us."

"What's so bad about that?"

"It was actually more like 'Did you finally get together and realize what the rest of us knew all along?'"

"Ah. Yes, well, that's Shaw for you…"

Suddenly she was giving him a suspicious glare and he wondered what was going on. "You're still not jealous about Shaw, are you?"

Beckett's glare intensified so Castle began to splutter. "Kate, you've had more contact with her than me. She was never a muse and she's not even a contact for me. She probably wouldn't take a call from me…."

Beckett's sudden grin stopped him and he started again with a sarcastic tone. "Ha, ha. Pick on Rick time."

"It's so much fun."

"That goes both ways, you know."

"I know but I have to get my shots in when I can."

Rick grinned at first but then looked pensive, which made Kate curious. "What's wrong?"

"I was wondering how the CIA fits in. It makes sense that the FBI would investigate something like this but what's the CIA connection?"

"She didn't know."

"Could I be the connection? She brought up my contact…." He sighed before continuing, "I don't get it."

"Neither do I."

She had felt good about bringing some humor into the situation but it didn't last long. She just wished she could do something but she was like a pawn on the chessboard and for now there was nothing she could do about it.


	5. Assassin

Disclaimer: still not mine.

Rick was pushing himself on his treadmill and he could hear Kate thumping away on the wavemaster. He barely heard the alert from his phone indicating a stranger had entered the building. He'd had other false alarms but decided to be conscientious and looked at the image. He frowned as he saw the package carried by a stranger that had the name of one of his favorite stores. He hadn't ordered anything though but wasn't sure anybody else in the building would be getting something from there.

He hit the stop button and went looking for Alexis thinking that she might have ordered something. She confirmed that she had ordered something but declined to say what with a devious smile. By then, he saw that the delivery man was exiting the elevator so he headed for the door. He studied the man and although he didn't recognize him, he saw nothing sinister so decided to just answer the door. He took a moment to wipe the sweat off his face and answered the door immediately when he heard the doorbell.

"Good morning, Mr. Castle. Here's your order."

"Thanks." He suddenly realized that he didn't have his wallet and hesitated before continuing. "Do I owe you anything?"

"No, everything is covered. Have a nice day."

"Thanks."

He noticed that the arrival must have distracted Kate from her punishment of the bag and she was looking at the package curiously. Castle shrugged at her and said, "Don't ask me. Alexis ordered something."

The two adults looked at a grinning Alexis who just said, "Open it and find out."

Rick was curious enough to make short work of getting the item out of the bag and he was surprised to see a complete set of laser tag equipment, this one in red. He gave Alexis a puzzled look and she laughed before speaking.

"I thought red would be a good color for Nikki Heat." She grinned at Kate after saying that and Kate responded by pretended to be annoyed but spoiling it with a smile.

"You want to drag me into a laser tag match?"

Rick couldn't resist. "Are you scared?"

She turned to see a challenging look from Rick and when she looked back at Alexis, she had a remarkably similar expression on her face.

"Fine. I'll make you both sorry you ever thought of this."

"I'll need a shower first."

"Me too."

"Hey! I want to get started today you know. No funny business. Just a shower." Alexis pretended to glare at the adults and they responded with laughs. Kate was still grinning as they entered his bedroom to use the en suite bathroom. As she started stripping to take the shower, she turned to Rick with a grin. "Remember what she said, no funny business!"

He pretended to pout and announced, "You're no fun!" They couldn't resist a little play time but finished their shower quickly anyway.

Later, Rick crept slowly forward in his rather dark living room. Although this hadn't been his idea, he had been anxious to see how Kate would fare against the experience that Alexis and himself had over Kate but it all seemed to count for naught as she had won the first two games. He was determined to deny her a third victory in a row. She'd eliminated Alexis already, who had ordered lunch and was looking at newspaper articles while waiting for the game to end. He had thought he had cornered Kate but she didn't seem to be there. He was starting to look at places other than where he'd thought she was when his laser target suddenly indicated he'd been hit.

He turned to see Kate brandishing her laser pistol and pretending to blow the smoke away from the end of the gun as he was wont to do when celebrating a victory. She'd done it to him again. He'd thought his training on situational awareness would count for more than this. He gave her a bow indicating his concession of her victory as she chuckled. Suddenly his phone sounded an alert and he saw that their food had just arrived. Both he and the security system recognized the delivery man so he nonchalantly announced, "Lunch is here."

Alexis turned the lights back on and Rick began stripping off his gear so he wouldn't spook the delivery man. He was ready barely in time when the doorbell rang and he opened the door. He accepted the food and told the man, "Make sure you take a nice tip for this."

"Thank you, Mr. Castle. It's always a pleasure."

As he started distributing the food around the table, he sighed and said, "We really should order in some groceries so I can start cooking again. I'm going to get lazy."

"If you're busy cooking, that will cut into play time, wouldn't it?"

Kate was trying to give him an innocent look but he was having none of it as he narrowed his eyes at her. Eventually he appeared to reconsider as he said, "I wouldn't cook _all_ of the meals…"

"Well, I guess that would be OK then…"

"You two need to get a room."

"We already have one, it's right over there." He pointed at his bedroom as he smirked at his daughter while she rolled her eyes at him. Things became quiet as they dug in as their laser tag had delayed lunch and they were very hungry. Suddenly Rick exclaimed "Oh!" and looked like he had been struck by an epiphany.

Kate was the first to ask. "What?"

He looked at Alexis and they thought he wasn't going to answer. Alexis narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her looking very stubborn. After a few moments Rick shrugged and turned back towards Kate.

"Remember what Sofia said about why I was given access to her?"

Kate thought a moment and then said, "Yes… Oh!"

"Very funny you two, what's going on?"

"Remember the cryptic reference to my father I got from the CIA a few months ago?"

Alexis was till puzzled. "Yes, so?"

"We heard from someone in the FBI that there is CIA involvement of some sort in this mess. We couldn't think of why but maybe it's because of me or maybe I should say my father. If he's alive and really in the CIA…."

He stared at Kate and they both seemed to be thinking furiously. They were interrupted by Alexis after a few moments.

"OK, if you two are reading each other's minds then this is getting creepy."

That broke the tension and they all laughed. Rick continued to look thoughtful though and Kate didn't want him to take a page from her book and obsess over it. "We got training on tactics for shootouts in the academy."

That got his attention just as she thought it would. "Really? Care to share, Detective?"

"Well, I might be persuaded…"

He reached over to tickle her and she shied away and conceded immediately. "All right! I'll talk. You see, it's all about flanking…." Partway into her explanation she noted that the younger Castle was listening raptly as well. She began to get the feeling that the next game of laser tag might not be so easy. He was such a good student that she decided to ask him what he'd learned about the police baton and then she went over to get it so he could demonstrate and realized that he'd learned a few tricks that she hadn't. They weren't the regulation police batons for the NYPD so she guessed they hadn't tried to cover everything.

After they had spent a few minutes with her practicing, Alexis suddenly appeared in her full laser tag regalia and cleared her throat impatiently. Rick smiled and looked at Kate. "It appears that we are being challenged to a new game."

Kate smiled and said, "Prepare to go down, Castle."

Kate was a little disconcerted with how quickly both Castles disappeared. She decided to stay in cover and keep her eyes open for any clue to where they were. She was just thinking of changing positions when her target announced she'd been hit. She didn't have to wonder who or where when she heard Rick chanting "Yes! Yes! Yes!" and doing a silly dance. The next thing they knew his target went off and he stopped, stunned.

"I win!" It was Alexis' turn to do a silly dance and the look on Rick's face was just too much for Kate. She was laughing so hard she ended up lying on the floor. When she started to calm down again, she noticed that someone was sitting on the floor next to her. It turned to be a rather annoyed Rick Castle and it made her giggle again.

When she quieted, he asked, "Enjoying yourself, Kate?"

"Immensely."

"I'm glad I'm so entertaining."

"It's one of the things I love about you."

He looked pensive for a moment before responding with a smile. "I can live with that."

"OK, I can see where this is going. I'm going to my room." Rick could hear that Alexis was teasing and not annoyed so he just watched her go with a smile.

Kate sat up and looked over her shoulder at Alexis until she disappeared into her room. She turned back to Rick with a serious look that concerned him for a moment. "You have a really amazing daughter."

Rick's face broke out into a proud smile and Kate couldn't help grinning back. Her smile slowly faded and she spoke again. "I'd like to do some research. Probably contact Ryan to see if he has any new information. I hate just sitting around waiting for things to happen. I don't even know who's after me!"

Rick saw that playtime was over so he helped her up and they began shedding their equipment and reconvened in his office. He went online for any news and she texted Ryan to see if it was safe to call. They worked the rest of the afternoon but all they found out was that the NYPD was like an angry nest of hornets and that there was going to be a congressional investigation into military personnel contractors with Arantus Solutions at the head of the list.

Rick noticed he was getting hungry and glanced at his watch to note that it was getting close to dinner time. He realized that he'd done nothing about getting more groceries so they'd have to order in. Kate suggested pizza and when he checked with Alexis that was fine with her so he placed an order at their usual pizza delivery place. He didn't think much about it until he got an alert from the security system again and realized that he didn't recognize the man holding the pizza that was entering the building.

He wouldn't be able to say exactly why but he had a bad feeling about it. He turned to Kate and asked, "Are you armed?"

Her eyes got big before she responded. "Why?"

"I don't recognize the pizza guy. I'll have Alexis check." He got up and left the office as Kate ran into the bedroom and came out with her gun. When she got out to the main area she saw Rick watching on his phone while Alexis was calling someone.

She looked up from the phone and spoke to her father. "He sent Marty and he's sent him here before."

"I see a guy, probably late 20's, Hispanic, tattoos…."

Alexis relayed that and looked concerned before speaking to her father again. "That's not Marty."

"Tell him we'll call him back. When you are done, take cover."

Alexis did what she was told although she looked very alarmed about it. Rick went towards the door while speaking to Kate. "He's in the elevator. He looked around for cameras. I have a very bad feeling."

Rick quickly went over to the planter and took out the baton. After a quick look at Kate, he moved the baton and held it against his side. He stood in front of the door and announced, "He's pulled something from under his jacket and is holding it under the pizza. I didn't get a good look at it but it could be a gun."

He glanced toward the kitchen but didn't see Alexis so he gave Kate a grave look and she looked much the same. She readied herself and her gun beside the front door. Rick continued to speak softly as the put away his phone. "He's almost here. I'll try to distract him."

Kate whispered back desperately, "No! Rick, get away!" However, he stayed and opened the door when he heard the knock. He made sure he was turned so the man didn't see the baton he still held close to his side and felt a chill when he met the hard eyes of the man holding the pizza. He turned away from the door and Kate as he spoke. "Just a second, I'll get my wallet." Suddenly, the synthesized voice came from his phone and said _Warning! Gun!_

Everything seemed to go into slow motion as Kate tensed for action as her heartbeat pounded in her ears. It was a lot more than just her own life at stake in this moment and that just made her normal cop instincts go into overdrive. She saw the man begin to step into the room and he was indeed holding something under the pizza. His head was turned towards Rick and he seemed very curious about the strange voice so he was unaware of her presence and Rick's plan was working so far.

She shouted "Police! Freeze!" and she saw shock appear on the man's face as he began to turn towards her. She held her gun steady on his chest and readied herself to fire if he made any move to point the gun towards anyone. Suddenly she saw Rick making a move towards the man with the baton out and driving it hard towards the arm holding something under the pizza and she heard a crack with the impact and saw agony on the face of the man as he began to drop everything.

The next thing she knew, Rick had grabbed the man by the back of his neck and shoved his head down while his knee came up and the man grunted with the impact to his face and began to fall like a puppet with its strings cut. She began to get her cuffs out while Rick pulled a gun with a silencer and the pizza away from the man who was groaning on the floor. He grunted again when she pulled what seemed to be his broken arm back and cuffed it to the other.

As she stood up and away from the man who'd come to kill them, she found her eyes locking with Rick's. She gave him a tight grin and said, "Bud would be proud."

Rick chuckled and nodded then stood up and closed the door. He looked towards the kitchen and must have seen Alexis as he gave her a tired grin and said, "All clear, Pumpkin."

She heard Alexis rushing over and nearly winced in sympathy as she threw herself into her father's waiting arms. Rick took the impact in stride and murmured reassurances that Kate couldn't quite make out. She was surprised when Alexis quickly let go of her father and then turned a concerned look at her and hugged her too. She felt a mix of surprise and acceptance as Alexis whispered, "You two were amazing."

Kate chuckled and whispered back. "Your father did most of the work."

Alexis pulled back and shook her head in disagreement before speaking a little more loudly. "You two make a great team."

Kate's eyes flicked to Rick's as she answered with a smile. "I certainly can't deny that."

Rick's grin faded before he spoke to Kate. "So, who do we call?"

Kate's frown indicated that she had no ready answer to give. "I'll call Ryan." Rick left her to do that while he guided Alexis over to the kitchen and indicated for her to sit on a stool next to the one he chose. "Are you doing OK, Pumpkin?"

She glanced in the direction of the door and spoke softly. "It was a little too exciting but I'll live." He gave her a one-armed hug then looked towards the door himself.

"I wonder if that is really our pizza."

He went back and picked up the pizza box and looked inside. Beckett was still busy with her call so he came back to Alexis, put the pizza on the counter and told her that it was their pizza. He had her call the pizza place again to warn them they should look for Marty.

"Castle?"

He looked towards her and it was obvious that she wanted him to come over to her so he did. She spoke softly to him when he arrived. "He's calling Gates. He said to expect a big response. NYPD isn't going to take this well."

He grimaced and then said, "I better warn the doorman."

While he was still talking to the doorman, he could hear sirens getting louder. When his call ended he opened his security app and said, "Silent mode." He turned to Beckett and added, "I could hear sirens in the background when I was talking to him. We'll have company soon."

She nodded then decided to call Esposito; she didn't want him to feel left out. Rick was distracted when his phone rang and he saw it was Bud.

"Castle."

"What the hell is going on there, Rick?"

"Some assassin came with our pizza. Kate and I took him down. Expect a lot of company from NYPD."

"I can see that. I'm going to pull back. Sorry about that. I saw the guy but wasn't sure he had anything to do with you. Can you tell your doorman to not allow anyone up for deliveries anymore?"

"Yeah, I can do that. That's a good idea."

"Right, later."

Before he could speak to a curious Beckett his phone vibrated and he saw two very alert policemen on their way up the elevator. "Two uniforms will be here soon."

"I'm not taking any chances, I'll handle this."

She was in full cop mode so he decided to back off. He glanced at the assassin and he seemed to be out cold or playing possum so he retreated to rejoin Alexis. They listened as Beckett questioned the officers through the door to verify they were who said they were. Before she had finished he was alerted again by a vibration of his phone and saw more police entering the building. She wasn't kidding; they were going to swarm this place. Beckett was finally satisfied and opened the door and explained about the man on the floor to them. One covered the man and one stepped back into the hallway to stand guard.

Rick and Alexis watched a slow accumulation of NYPD personnel that only slightly diminished when they removed the suspect. Neither was tempted by the slowly cooling pizza, with their appetites forgotten as they watched and waited. Rick was tempted to go over when Esposito showed up and was talking to Beckett while Ryan watched a little apart from the other two. Rick saw Javier give him a surprised look before he started on his way over to join him.

Rick was amused when Javier came over and greeted him with a high five and an enthused exclamation of "Bro!" He leaned in closer with an amused grin before speaking again. "Dude. I hear you broke the guy's arm and his nose."

Rick laughed self-deprecatingly but had to admit the truth. "Yeah, I did."

"Badass Castle, who would have thought it?"

Rick just shrugged, unsure of what to say. Javier glanced Alexis' way before whispering, "Maybe the two of us should spar some day."

After his numerous poundings at the hands (and feet) of Bud, that thought was no longer as intimidating as it would have been a few months ago. On the other hand, he wasn't so sure that he wanted to so he gave a nonchalant shrug before responding.

"Maybe."

Apparently, his reaction was not what Javier was expecting so he gave him a speculative look before he seemed to remember something and pulled some mail out of his pocket and handed it to Rick who absently put it beside him on the counter. "Eduardo gave it to me." Rick nodded while Javier turned towards Alexis and asked, "And how is little Castle holding up?"

Rick saw her narrow her eyes at Esposito, probably due to the word 'little' but she responded in a friendly manner. "I'm OK. I'm feeling pretty well protected right now."

Javier glanced back at the cluster of police at their door just in time for Gates' arrival. He stiffened but then forced himself to relax and he decided to sit next to Rick and watch developments. Rick watched as Kate stiffened at the captain's approach and they conferred quietly. Suddenly, Kate turned their way, looked at Rick and beckoned him with a quick movement of her head.

Rick responded immediately and wondered what was up now as he approached. He was intrigued when Gates seemed to have her cop face on and was professional but polite to him. "Good evening, Mr. Castle. We are very sorry you had to go through this. This incident has gone all the way up to the Mayor's office and all the way back down. You will have the full resources of the NYPD available for your protection. There will be a squad car downstairs 24/7 and increased patrols in this area. If you have any questions or requests, I would be pleased to assist you."

Rick was unsure how to respond at first. Gates could be hard to read when she wanted to be and she was in full cop mode so although he surmised that what she said was under orders, he was not getting any hint of how she felt about this personally. He glanced quickly at Kate and saw that she was suppressing a smile and he had to forcefully prevent a nervous smile from appearing on his face as well. For once he saw a cooperative Captain Gates with no hint of disapproval and he wasn't about to jeopardize it.

"Thank you, Captain. I appreciate the help and concern. I don't have any questions."

"Very well, Mr. Castle. The rest of us will leave you now but Detective Ryan will remain to get your statements. We'll sort anything else out when the time comes. Good evening."

Gates was as good as her word as she urged everyone but Ryan out. She seemed to ignore the presence of Esposito which suited Rick just fine. He felt himself relax as the door closed on the last of them and he saw that Kevin was slightly nervous so he decided to take care of that first thing. "Come on Kevin, we'll get comfortable around the nook in the kitchen. We can do the official stuff and then chat for a bit." He got a grateful smile from Kevin and a nod of approval from Kate so he knew he'd done the right thing.

As they gathered around the counter and chose stools Rick saw Alexis greet Ryan quietly and Ryan choose a stool far from Esposito. He took statements from Rick and Kate and although he was thorough with a little help from Kate, he didn't exactly follow protocol since they were all together for both statements. Neither had anything to hide for this incident so they were completely truthful but they could easily have colluded on a statement if they had wished. Rick noted that Esposito was paying close attention to everything including Ryan although he didn't see any direct interaction between the two.

They chatted for a bit when the statements were done but it was getting late and Kevin got a call from Jenny so he said his goodbyes. Javier watched him leave and although he never said goodbye, he seemed contemplative rather than hostile to his partner. As soon as the door closed behind Ryan, Kate turned with a glare towards Esposito that made him stiffen and sit up straighter although he did not look repentant.

"Ryan did the right thing. It's time to get over it, Javi. I've forgiven him already."

"You can do what you want, Beckett. I won't argue with you about what you do but I expect the same courtesy from you."

He could see Kate wasn't happy about it but she didn't continue the conversation either. Javier nodded as if accepting something and spoke as he got up. "I guess it's time for me to leave too. It was nice to see you again, Beckett and Castles."

Esposito gave them a friendly smile as he got up so he and Alexis did the same as they said their goodbyes. Javier gave a little wave as he got to the door and exited. Rick sighed as he looked around and his two companions looked as tired as he felt. He looked at the pizza box before he spoke.

"We should eat."

Kate looked unconvinced but Alexis took a slice, put it on a plate and stuck it in the microwave. She looked back at her father and said, "I'll take it up to my room. I'm not very hungry."

He nodded as that was fine with him. His hunger was weak but he decided to copy her and put his slice in when she left with hers. He looked back at Kate as he waited for his to finish and she rolled her eyes and put a slice on a plate as well. She gave him a teasing look before she spoke. "Yes, dear. No need to nag me, I'll eat."

Rick grinned at her and she gave him a bump with her hip as she put her plate in after he took his out. When she'd started hers, he bumped her back before taking his plate back to the counter to eat. She was regarding him with an affectionate smile as she waited for her slice to finish and Rick returned it before he noticed the mail that he had had ignored earlier. Most of the return addresses were not interesting but then he saw one from the attorney general's office, not state but federal. He had no clue what that might be about and the fact that it had been sent with overnight service just added to the mystery so he opened it and was puzzled by a short note written on the stationary of the Associate Attorney General. It simply said that he was forwarding the enclosed envelope for a friend. The envelope inside simply had 'Richard Castle' written on it with unfamiliar writing.

He opened that envelope and skipped to the bottom and saw a signature that looked like 'M Smith'. He quickly realized that this could be very important so he read the letter immediately.

_I had intended to find a place to hide and then arrange for a way to communicate but events changed my mind. The story that came out about Arantus Solutions changed everything. Suddenly, it seemed possible for us to take the offensive. You see, one of the facts in the file was that the man who wants Detective Beckett dead was behind that company. Since that article made it obvious that they had more information to print about Arantus, I knew that the information I had would have more credibility and might be enough to help take him down. I don't really want to hide for the rest of my life so I decided to take a chance._

_The Associate Attorney General is a former classmate and a friend of mine. I knew with me verifying the source of the file and with what someone else was already revealing we had a chance to start an investigation that can take down the monster that is threatening our lives. It won't be simple or quick but it is our best chance to live normal lives. I brought the original of the file I had to my friend and he promised to investigate and to pass this message on to you. The fact that you have this letter means that an investigation that might free us has begun._

_If you have not taken precautions for your own safety by now, I strongly urge you to do so. A man with your wealth must have resources to accomplish what you need. Based on what I heard from Roy and what I observed myself when you visited, I am sure that you will help me keep my word to my dead friend and protect Kate Beckett as well._

_For all I know, the identity of the man hunting us may have already come out by the time you receive this but I will now share the secret anyway as it is no longer so dangerous to know. The ADA that tried the case against Pulgatti was William H Bracken (yes, he's now Senator Bracken) and he became aware of the transgressions of Roy and his coworkers. That was the beginning of him leading two lives, one the public life of a politician and one the man behind the scenes who can make bad things happen and get away with them. He already had enough contacts to intimidate three policemen so he must have even more by now. Be very careful._

Rick looked up into the curious eyes of his girlfriend who had respected his privacy and was blissfully unaware of the revelation he had just received. He had no idea what to do. While he had been absorbed in the letter, he saw that Kate had finished her pizza while what was left of his lay forgotten on his plate. He decided to throw it away, he had no appetite now.

"Rick, what's wrong?"

She had reached over to take his hand in hers and she was giving him a very concerned look. He decided that if he expected her to communicate better with him, he needed to do the same. He'd let her decide what he did next. He looked her in the eyes with a serious expression on his face.

"Do you want to know who the dragon is?"

The expression of surprise on her face could have been funny in another context but now it just made him hold his breath. Her face seemed to go through several emotions before she settled into a serious expression. He was reassured by the fact that she now was clasping his hand even harder.

"Yes."

"Senator William H. Bracken. Here, this will explain it." He handed her the letter and at first she stared at him and was squeezing his hand so hard he had to force himself not to wince. Eventually she released his hand, took the letter and read.

He realized it would take her a little while to absorb the news so he took their plates, dumped his uneaten pizza and put the plates in the sink for later. He was sure neither of them would be interested in any more food so he put the rest of the pizza in the refrigerator and returned to his seat. She was still reading or rereading the letter and her eyes were moist and her hands were shaky.

He watched her and resisted the urge to hug her as it didn't seem wise to disturb her now. Eventually she released the letter but still stared in the same direction, unseeing. After about a minute she slowly turned to look at him and the shattered look on her face made his chest hurt. He reached over and took her hand but she didn't even seem to notice. She slowly rose to her feet and seemed a little shaky so he stopped resisting temptation and he stood and hugged her to reassure her with his presence. Her instant return hug told him that his support was appreciated.

Her shuddering sobs against his chest were easy to feel but he was surprised how quiet they were. He had no idea if this was just her trying to keep her feelings private again or if she just naturally cried quietly. He had never seen her crying full out like this so he had no idea. He remained silent and reassured her with his embrace and later started to rub her back and it must have been what she needed as her sobbing stopped and she began to relax against him.

After a while, she released him, stood back and wiped her face. She gave him a sad smile, took his hand and silently led him towards the bedroom. When they went to bed a little while later, they cuddled but that was all, unlike the previous night.

Bracken's house near Washington DC:

Bracken was exhausted and finally had to go to bed. He changed and did his normal evening ablutions. He approached the bed and saw his wife asleep but as he reached for the covers on his side, he saw a note on his pillow. He nearly threw it away thinking it was from his wife but hesitated and decided to glance at it. He quickly saw that it wasn't from his wife at all. It was printed on nondescript computer paper and was short and to the point.

_**We can get to you too.**_

He resisted the urge to look around. If they were here for him, it was already too late. If it was just a warning, he got the message loud and clear. He couldn't imagine his wife seeing this note and not raising the alarm. Someone had been here between her falling asleep and him coming to bed. Someone had penetrated all of the protections on his home. He'd have the recordings checked in the morning but he didn't expect to find anything. He crumpled the note and returned to the bathroom for a sleeping pill. That was the only way he was going to get any sleep tonight.


	6. Payback

A/N: Still don't own them. Thanks for all of the encouragement.

Despite the sleeping pill Bracken had taken, his sleep was fitful at best. He got up before his wife and retreated to his study and took out his special, encrypted cell phone. He didn't have time to wait for their next meeting, he needed information and he needed it now. The answer wasn't as quick as normal and the voice on the other end was sleepy but he didn't care about that.

"Woods"

"What happened?"

"The Kings sent a man and he was captured. It attracted a lot of attention and now they have police protection, apparently around the clock. Getting to them won't be easy."

"Our guys?"

"Gone in the wind. The guy on Smith acknowledged his orders and his car made it to the city but he never checked in. He vanished without a trace. The other three guys quit."

Bracken clenched his teeth. He wanted to fire Woods but he had nobody to replace him, at least not right now. He did vow that someday Woods would pay for his failure and pay dearly. "Recruit some new guys or find somebody freelance. We need some bodies and we need them soon."

He hung up without saying anything else as he couldn't trust what he might say next. This whole thing was going south in a hurry and he had to figure out how not to go down with it. There is no way he could allow anyone or anything to interfere with his destiny. Nobody mattered if they got in his way.

Woods sat back and rubbed his face tiredly. He had plans of his own that had nothing to do with the orders he had just received. He had news that he had chosen not to share and it was time for one of his contingency plans. Bracken wasn't going to be his problem for much longer.

Melissa Jones was getting ready for her day at the main receptionist desk at the Attorney General's office building. It was still early and the people arriving were employees heading through security to get to their work places. She was a little surprised when a very tired looking older man with a military bearing approached her.

"Can I help you, Sir?"

"Yes. I'd like to speak with a member of the AG's task force, please." As he spoke he slid his business card toward her that identified him as Robert Woods, Executive Director of Arantus Solutions.

She glanced at the card and at first didn't understand why his card should mean anything to her. Suddenly the company name rang a bell with her and she stifled a gasp as she remembered what had been in the news lately. She looked back at the man with wide eyes and he just stood there patiently and didn't look dangerous at all but she was still nervous.

"Excuse me, I'll call someone for you." She looked up the main number for the task force and tried to sound calm as she got an answer. "Hello, this is Melissa from the front desk. I have a Mr. Robert Woods here who is the Executive Director of Arantus Solutions and would like to speak with someone from the task force." She paused and then said, "Thank you."

She gave the visitor a nervous smile. "Someone will be down to speak to you shortly Mr. Woods."

"Thank you." He gave her a polite smile that eased her concern slightly but she didn't fully relax until a few minutes later when she saw one of the agents approach that was familiar to her.

A serious looking man in a suit approached Woods and showed his badge before speaking. "I'm agent Jared Stack of the AG's task force. Do you want to make a statement?"

"Yes, agent Stack. I am very anxious to make a statement."

After a brief appraising glance, he led Woods to the security line and watched him pass through it with his briefcase with no security issues. He was interested in the flash drives he saw when the case was opened but said nothing as they proceeded to one of the interrogation rooms upstairs.

As soon as they were seated at the table, Stack spoke without notes. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you?"

Woods just smiled and replied, "I already know that. I have a lot to offer for an investigation you have in progress. I know you have some evidence about Senator Bracken but I have a lot that can tie him to more current crimes. I have recordings of conversations and I can testify about a lot of things that have happened recently."

"How do you know about this alleged investigation?"

Woods smirked back at him before answering. "The FBI has a leak and I can tell you who it is. As a matter of fact, I can offer a leak in NYPD headquarters too. I have a lot to offer."

Stack narrowed his eyes before responding. "What do you want?"

Woods removed a bank statement from his briefcase and slid it in front of Stack before he spoke. "I would want this account to remain untouched and any initial publicity about me to be with the name I have just given you."

"Why?" Stack saw Woods' mouth tighten before he answered and realized that they were about to get the lever that would turn Woods for this case.

"The account pays for my mother's care at a nursing home in Maryland. The name is so that if she hears the news, she won't know that it's me."

Stack merely raised his eyebrow as he knew Woods was ready to crack.

Woods closed his eyes momentarily and sighed tiredly. "She has Alzheimer's. It's 50-50 whether she'll recognize me when I visit. She's all I've got left."

His instincts told him that Woods was telling the truth. "Anything else?"

"Nothing." The look in Woods' eyes told Stack that he knew his future was bleak and that that wasn't the most important thing to him. They'd have to verify a few things but he was confident he could sell this deal to his superiors. Also, Woods had guaranteed his support as soon as he'd said there was a leak in the FBI. If there was one thing Stack couldn't stand it was a traitor and he wanted this deal badly. He took the bank statement and rose to leave.

"The Associate Attorney General has a personal interest in this case so I have to run this by him. Please stay here, I'll be back as soon as I can."

Earlier, at Castle's loft:

Rick woke abruptly to the sound of his cell phone and tried to untangle himself as unobtrusively as possible from Kate who was waking also. He was a little late answering it so he just grabbed it without checking who it was and sleepily mumbled "Castle."

"Bud. You have company coming; your mother is on her way. Things are really going to hit the fan today and we want everyone in one spot. We may have to take you to the safe house. You'd better pack in case as we'd extract you on short notice."

That woke him in a hurry. "What's happening?"

"The dragon is being outed today and we already delivered a message to him that he won't like. Things are going FUBAR for him so he may do something stupid. We've gotta be ready."

The line went dead and for a moment all Rick could do was stare at his phone, dumbfounded. Kate's voice was filled with dread. "What's wrong?"

He swallowed and forced himself to focus, others needed him and he had to be sharp. He saw that it wasn't even 4 AM yet when he saw the time on his phone. He stood up to face her and she was already standing on the other side of the bed and although she looked a little flustered, he could also see that she was putting on her cop face. He always knew he could depend on her to rise to an occasion like this.

"That was Bud. They're taking my mother here and they want us ready to leave on short notice. We may need to go to the safe house. I think Bracken will be on the front page today and not in a good way. This could be a long day."

She nodded and turned to get ready then quickly turned back to him. "Wake Alexis."

He suppressed a gasp as he was disappointed with himself that he wasn't already on his way to her and immediately hurried to his daughter's room and knocked loudly to rouse her. Normally he'd wait to be invited in but this wasn't one of those days. He opened the door and saw his daughter starting to sit up. "Sorry Alexis but we have to get ready. Grams is on her way here and we may have to go to a safe house. We have to be ready to go on short notice."

Her astonishment gave way to her concern. "What's happening?"

"Things are going very badly for the guy who's after us. We have to be ready for anything, including leaving the loft."

She looked a little paler than normal but her face was resolute. "I'll get ready. You better change and pack too." She gave him a pointed look and he suddenly realized that he was only wearing boxers so his retreat to his own room was a little quicker than normal.

When he got there he found Kate not only already dressed but she had her gun in a holster as well. He had just gotten his clothes on when his security app pinged to notify him of a known arrival. He checked the image and saw his mother with a tall man with grey hair who seemed to know where the cameras were so Rick couldn't get a good look at him. He was surprised to see his mother quickly embrace the man before he rapidly departed.

"Who is it?"

"My mother. She has a small suitcase with her so she must be ready."

He started wandering towards the door and realized that the security system was still in lockdown. He checked the other views and saw nobody so he switched to enhanced mode and when his mother got to the door, he opened it before she even got a chance to knock. She paused with her hand up and a surprised look on her face for a moment but then she hurried into the loft, dropped the suitcase and hugged her son.

"What the hell is going on, Richard?"

"More of the same, mother. I'm told that something bad is more likely to happen now. We may have to hide even more than we have been. Who was that fellow who dropped you off?"

"I wish I knew! He first came to me as a student but, well, I'm not sure of anything right now!" Martha suddenly saw Kate behind her son and after exclaiming, "Kate!" she proceeded over to give her a hug too. Then she saw Alexis and repeated the process again. She began waving everyone towards the couch but when they got there Martha and Alexis ended up on the couch while Rick and Kate took the loveseat opposite them.

Martha gave Rick a serious look before speaking. "Did you send Jackson Hunt to be my bodyguard?"

"Is that the guy who dropped you off?"

"Yes. You've never heard of him, have you?"

"No. I know Bud has been working with someone else so maybe it's this Jackson Hunt guy and maybe more people too. I just don't know."

"Who are they?"

"My best guess is that they were sent by my father."

Martha's eyes got big and both of her hands went up to cover her mouth. That was a bit theatrical even for her so Rick became concerned and Kate leaned forward.

"What's wrong Mother?"

Martha's eyes went first to Alexis and then to Kate before she looked at Rick again and sighed. "He reminds me of your father. He insisted that we'd never met before but there was just something about him…."

Rick couldn't help it; he immediately turned to look at Kate who looked back at him simultaneously with a look of compassion and concern. Their hands automatically gravitated together and they were holding hands before they even thought about it. Rick finally looked back at his mother and saw her looking at their joined hands with a wistful smile.

Martha's eyes flicked back to her son's and she asked, "You think it's him, don't you?"

"I think it is."

He was surprised when Martha's eyes hardened and a determined look came to her face. "Then the next time I see him, he and I are going to have words."

It wasn't often that the hard side of Martha Rodgers came out. She had to have one for her profession but she rarely showed it to family. Rick was very glad that he wasn't Jackson Hunt right now. When Kate tightened her grip on his hand slightly he looked at her and saw her lift an eyebrow and the hint of a smile appeared on her face. He nodded back as she was clearly thinking the same thing as him. Whether Jackson Hunt was a CIA agent or not, he'd better be looking out for Martha Rodgers.

He looked at his mother and asked, "Are you ready to go to a safe house?"

"I am."

"OK, I'm not. How about you, Pumpkin?"

Alexis finished a big yawn and then responded. "Almost. I have to get couple more things."

"OK, you do that and Kate and I will finish then maybe we should try to get a little more sleep. It looks like nothing will happen for a while."

Everyone seemed to concur as they got up to go to their respective bedrooms. It wasn't until he saw the front door that he remembered that he had to go back into lockdown so he did that. His preparations included some clothing and a wad of cash from his safe. He put his duffle bag by the door and Kate followed suit. They already saw a fourth bag there so Alexis must have finished hers as well.

He wasn't too sure about getting any more sleep but he did intend to try. He could tell that Kate wasn't hopeful either but they did try to make themselves comfortable in bed again. It seemed every time he seemed close to drifting off some thought about their danger would force him awake again. After this happened several times he decided to give up and opened his eyes to see Kate looking at him with a tender expression that made his heart melt.

He smiled at her and asked, "You too?"

"Sometimes, sleeping is one of those things that is easier said than done."

"Yeah. Sucks, doesn't it?"

"Occupational hazard for me."

His smile faded as he grew concerned for her. She reached over and held his nearest hand. "It's easier when it's shared."

His smile came back. Being there is something he could always do for her. She hugged him and then spoke up again. "Maybe we should do some more confessions, like when we talked about the hangar."

"Sure. What do you want to talk about?"

"One thing I wondered about is what I said in the freezer before I passed out."

"You left the sentence incomplete. You said 'I just want you to know how much I' and then a word that started with 'L' that you never finished."

"That's just our luck. I was going to confess that I loved you. I didn't want to die without you knowing. I should have broken up with Josh long before that. He made it tough though. He was such a sweet guy." She suddenly looked closely at Rick when she realized how that might sound. "I never loved him, Rick. He was never my one and done. You were completely right about me. I picked safe boyfriends and stuck with them too long. I wasted so much time…."

"Hey, I made my mistakes too. I still can't believe I tried again with Gina. That was one of the lowlights of my life. It was a complete waste of time."

Their moment was disturbed when his app pinged him again and he scrambled for his phone and saw someone familiar about to drop a newspaper in front of the door. He looked at her and saw she was only curious. "Paper's here. Let's see what misfortune has befallen our illustrious Senator from New York."

She rolled her eyes but she also had a small smile so he knew his humor had gotten through. He really was curious though so he made short work of changing the security mode and grabbing the paper. Sure enough, there was a picture of a smiling Senator Bracken on the front page but the headline wouldn't be what made him smile. The paper touted 'Bracken Owns Arantus' in big, bold letters. Rick couldn't help showing a gloating smile as he held the paper out to Kate who was sitting up in bed waiting for his return.

They read the articles together and were very happy to see Bracken's reputation tarnished in the newspaper. This didn't end anything though as there was nothing about him being so much as questioned about anything. The man who had ordered the deaths of several people was still free to do more of the same so their joy was muted. This wasn't over yet.

Since he was awake and alert anyway, Rick gave Kate a kiss and got up and started to get organized for the day. They were pretty much out of food and he wanted to reduce deliveries so he placed an order with a nearby grocer and got them to deliver. He already had an account with them and told them to leave it with the building personnel since they wouldn't be allowed up now anyway.

Kate joined him after the arrival of the food and they had a hearty breakfast nearly ready when Martha and Alexis came downstairs. They may not have been hungry last night but they were famished now. If he hadn't just ordered groceries, Rick would have eaten the pizza for breakfast although it wouldn't have been the first time he had done something like that. Nobody looked completely rested but they were in reasonably good shape to start the day.

Breakfast was very quiet due to how sleepy and hungry they all were. They all tried to do the dishes but got in each other's way so Martha shooed Rick and Kate away saying that she and Alexis would clean up since they had cooked. Neither of them were inclined to argue so they wandered to the couch and sat down together. Almost immediately Rick turned on the TV and tuned to CNN with the sound down.

Kate looked at Rick curiously. "Are you expecting news?"

Rick shrugged tiredly. "Who knows? I just think it would be nice to hear something as soon as possible. I don't like waiting any more than you."

Kate hummed her agreement and cuddled into his side, reclined her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes with a sigh of contentment. Rick tried to relax and remain still but she showed no signs of actually going to sleep when Martha and Alexis entered and smiled at the scene that greeted them. Kate was a little embarrassed when she opened her eyes but she didn't react much other than to smile somewhat sheepishly

"Don't worry darling, I was young once myself."

Alexis remained silent but she did smirk at the couple. Rick had a feeling she was going to save this moment for when he might catch her cuddled with a boyfriend.

Martha glanced at the television and then shot a mildly concerned look at her son. She then proceeded to take over the room as only a flamboyant actress can. She regaled them with mostly funny stories and even had Kate's total attention when she talked about her short stint on Temptation Lane. When it was time for lunch, they managed to all work together and kept the mood light through the meal.

Martha and Alexis got involved in their own discussion and Rick began to get restless so Kate rolled her eyes with a smile and led Rick back to the sofa and she once again cuddled into him and he just couldn't believe his good luck. He relaxed against her and began to feel sleepy. The TV volume was so low that he couldn't say exactly what caught his attention but he looked up to see that CNN was now covering something that happened in Queens. He wasn't sure whether Kate was asleep or not so he carefully eased the volume up so he could hear what they were saying.

She instantly came alert so his question was answered and she had only been resting. They both stared at the screen as the story began to unfold and Martha and Alexis joined them later, equally entranced. It eventually became clear that there had been a bombing and several people were dead but there was surprisingly little collateral damage. Some projectiles had broken windows but the structure of the building itself was intact. The coverage began to become repetitive as it became obvious there was nothing else to report so he turned the sound down again and turned to look at Kate.

Although she looked concerned, her voice was not as tense as he had expected. "That doesn't seem to have anything to do with us or Bracken."

Rick nodded affirmatively before responding. "Agreed. I'd suspect gang violence except I would have expected a bigger explosion. They would want to make a bigger impression at least that is what I think."

"You're probably right." Then she got a small, teasing grin. "Not everything is about us."

Rick chuckled and both Alexis and Martha reacted with similar but low key amusement. Their conversations were more sporadic until Alexis started bringing up things that had happened during her father's public appearances. Some of them he now found to be very embarrassing, especially in front of Kate but she appeared to be simply amused by them now so he slowly relaxed and told more humorous stories.

They were in the midst of preparing dinner when Kate's cell phone went off and she jumped and barely stifled a verbal reaction. She was blushing furiously as she looked at her phone and then stepped away and answered it. "Hey Ryan, what's up?"

Her blush subsided as she listened with great interest and made occasional remarks such as 'Really?' and 'That's interesting.' She ended the call distractedly and she was mildly embarrassed to see them all staring at her but she spoke while looking only at Rick.

"Maybe that explosion was about us after all. Ryan heard from one of his friends in Gangs and the bomb was military grade. It was a custom bomb designed to maximize killing with minimum damage to anything else. The target was a Supremas meeting of the Latin Kings." She then glanced at Martha and added, "The man who came after us earlier is a member of the Latin Kings."

She had their undivided attention as she continued. "The real interesting part is that word is that what is left of the leadership in New York blames Bracken for this attack. They think it is retaliation for something that hasn't come out in the rumors." She looked at Rick intently and added, "I wonder if it is related to the failed attempt on us."

She looked a little forlorn and it made something inside of Rick twist painfully. Unfortunately, he couldn't come up with much. "At least they are turning on each other now. Maybe they'll pay less attention to us."

She didn't look very reassured as she looked down and murmured, "We can only hope."

Each of them tried at one point or another but none of them could improve the mood during their meal. They ended up sitting close together on the sofa with Rick between Kate and Alexis and Martha on the other side of Alexis. They spoke fitfully and although Rick suggested watching a DVD they ended up leaving CNN on with the volume still way down. Eventually they all came to the conclusion that it was time to try to sleep. None of them looked hopeful for their prospects of doing that.

Rick became concerned when Kate stayed so quiet and sat down on the bed as if defeated. He sat beside her and while he was still racking his brain for something to say, she began to speak. "I left part of it out. Ryan's friend was actually bitching about the FBI coming in and taking over the case. They tried to push back but you can't beat the feds."

She put her hand on his leg and turned her head towards him but did not look him in the eye. "I need to leave."

"What!?"

She tried to quiet him by putting her hand over his mouth. "Shhhh. Wait, please hear me out."

Rick allowed her hand to stay where it was but he gave her such a glare that her eyes dropped down from his, she lowered her hand and she spoke more softly. "I'm endangering you and I'm endangering your family. You have to think of them, Castle. This is the right thing to do."

He was so angry his response practically started with a growl. "Only in your own mind. Kate, the only thing I would have done differently is to try to get my mother and daughter away from here before this started. I'm not sure how well that would have worked though because during the dirty bomb case it was like pulling teeth to get them to do anything. I don't know that they wouldn't be stubborn and stay anyway. We are in a well protected place with the latest technology and the NYPD protecting us, not to mention the CIA or whatever Bud and Hunt are. Leaving here would only make it easier for them to kill you Kate and you know what, they may as well kill me too if they get you."

She gave him a terrified look and tears formed in her eyes before she dropped them again. She started to try again. "Rick…."

"No you listen to me, Kate. I'm in this and everyone knows it. Do you think Bracken can afford to let me live? I'm a target and I don't care, this is worth it, you are worth it." He took her hands in his and put his forehead against her still downturned head. "I don't want to be in a world without you in it. I'm all in and there's nothing you can do about that."

He began to feel guilty when she began to shudder with quiet sobs but he only moved his hands to her back to gently pull her into a hug and she cooperated by putting her face into his chest and hugging him back. Eventually she stilled and after a sniff and a semi-hysterical chuckle she spoke again. "I guess we're both too stubborn to know what's good for us."

"It might be a family trait with us. The Rodgers/Castle clan are a loyal bunch, we don't back down."

She chuckled and sighed. "I guess I'm lucky then. You win, Rick. I'll make my stand with you and defend you and your family to my last breath. I'm all in too."

Rick was finally relaxed and enjoying the hug when Kate suddenly gasped, pulled back and looked at him. "My father!"

Rick was puzzled at first. "He has never been a target before."

"Can we ignore the possibility?"

He realized she was right. He took out his phone to call Jim when he suddenly changed his mind and called Bud instead. As usual, he got a quick answer.

"Bud."

"Is Kate's father being protected?"

The initial answer was a chuckle. "Mr. Beckett is going to be rather annoyed. We sent him on a wild goose chase but he'll be fine. Don't worry too much Rick; just stay put."

"What about the bombing?"

There was a long enough pause that Rick wasn't sure he'd get an answer but he finally did. "When you have two enemies sometimes the best thing to do is set them against each other."

He could tell that Bud was nearing his limit for what he would discuss on the phone. He said, "Got it." For the first time ever, Rick was the one to end the call before Bud did.

Kate was giving him a puzzled look. "Did you call Bud?"

"I did. He says your father has been sent somewhere and will be annoyed but he's safe. He didn't come right out and say it but I think they planted the bomb, not Bracken. They want the Kings and Bracken to turn on each other."

Kate didn't look pleased but she did relax back into a hug with Rick. After about a minute she mumbled, "We sure have fallen in with a rough crowd."

"Yes, we have." He couldn't help kissing the top of her head and she squeezed him a little harder back.

Eventually Kate gave into a big yawn which got Rick started too and they decided to get ready for bed. They were both feeling rather tired and lethargic but they ended up lying together but pretty much wide awake. After enough time passed for Rick to be thoroughly bored, he sighed and Kate lifted herself up on an elbow to look at him.

"I have an idea for what may get us tired enough to sleep."

He looked at her curiously before asking, "What?"

She sat up and pulled off the t shirt she had on and he was a little surprised that that was all that she had been wearing. She pulled the sheet down and got on top of Rick before he knew what was going on. He wasn't sure how long it lasted but it was a very mind-blowing experience and they both did fall asleep when it was over.


	7. The Tide Turns

A/N: Still don't own them. Thanks for all of the encouragement.

Bracken found it hard to imagine how things could get worse. Well, he supposed that getting arrested would make it worse but that's about all that hadn't happened. Woods was AWOL and he regretted turning over all of the day to day responsibilities to him in order to separate himself from the parts of his life he didn't want to come out. He wasn't aware of all of Woods' contacts or of all that he'd had going on. He really wished he knew more so he'd know what to do.

His contacts were hinting of something big coming from the AG's task force but he had no idea what. After the incident at his house his wife had been moved and he learned later that a warrant had been served and his house had been searched. The search of his senate office had been seriously embarrassing and now a lot of people didn't want to be seen with him. He'd remember this when he got out of this mess. He had a destiny to fulfill and this wouldn't stop him, nothing can.

Then there were the Kings. He had no idea why they were after him or why they thought he had something to do with the bombing. Because Woods was gone, he didn't even know who to contact or even if they were still alive. The calls and all of Hispanics watching him, the whole thing was becoming nerve wracking.

Perhaps the worst of all was that the FBI agents he had encountered had been polite in words but not in actions. They were after him for something but all it could be is the allegations that had been printed by the newspapers. They'd be sorry as soon as his lawyers got them where he wanted them. They couldn't possibly have evidence to substantiate what they had printed. He and Woods had been much too careful for that to happen. That was the problem though – where was Woods? He couldn't possibly have turned against him, could he?

The next morning in Rick's bedroom:

The morning had seemed to start well enough. They smiled at each other as they came awake but then Kate's face changed into a look of chagrin and he got a quick peck on the cheek rather than the normal, much more enthusiastic good morning kiss. As she hurried towards the bathroom, he couldn't help but ask, "Is something wrong?"

Her explanation was very quick as the door clicked shut. "Morning breath, give me a moment."

Now that she mentioned it, he noted an unpleasant taste in his mouth too. She'd had the right idea after all; he seriously needed a quick dose of mouthwash before he kissed her in their usual way. It appeared their late night activities had consequences for the morning. He sought out a t shirt to complement his pajama bottoms as he killed time for his turn in the bathroom. Suddenly, the door clicked open but the door remained mostly shut. He could hear water running but he wondered why she'd apparently aborted coming back out.

Then it occurred to him that she was trying to share the bathroom so he slowly approached the door and opened it to see her brushing her teeth and then playfully rolling her eyes at him as he entered. He wanted to take care of his issue right away so he went for the mouthwash and vigorously sloshed it around in his mouth to rid himself of the taste. When he finally took a moment to look at himself in the mirror, he nearly spit it all back out in shock.

He heard her laughter begin beside him as she was ridding herself of the last of the toothpaste. He gave her a mock glare as he finished up and then spit the mouthwash into the sink. "Kate, what did you do to my hair?"

"Apparently, I may have been a little too enthusiastic while running my fingers through it."

He gave her another mock glare as he began to try to smooth his hair down but soon gave it up as a bad job. He huffed in irritation and declared, "I need to take a shower."

"Would you like some company?"

He really wanted to keep on pretending to be upset but her coy look did him in and he chuckled. "Well, I guess I wouldn't mind." After the good morning kiss that had been delayed, he nearly forgot the shower until she started stripping and encouraging him to do the same. The shower took longer than it should have but he wasn't going to complain. As a matter of fact, he was starting to feel much better about things and he did his best to improve Kate's mood too.

They approached the kitchen holding hands and exchanging smiles and teasing glances. Rick was surprised to see his mother nursing a cup of tea and looking at them speculatively. He relaxed a little when she smiled but he wasn't entirely content as he wasn't sure he liked the look of that smile. Sure enough, she had something to say. "I don't have to ask what you two have been up to."

A quick glance showed that Kate was blushing and he felt s little heat in his face as well. "Are you becoming a critic, Mother?"

She narrowed her eyes at him as he was well aware of her lack of respect for a lot of theater critics. Her voice wasn't quite as teasing as she replied. "I was just making an observation."

Kate pulled on his hand to get his attention. "I'm sure your mother has had plenty of opportunities to realize what you like to do with women."

He gave her a more cautious look but relaxed when it was clear that she was teasing.

"More times than I can count, dear. The number is staggering."

And then his mother had to go and say **that**. He gave her a glare but she just smiled back at him, satisfied with her riposte. Rick relaxed as Kate laughed and gave his hand a quick parting squeeze before letting go. "I'll get started on breakfast."

He rolled his eyes at his unrepentant mother and then he hurried to help Kate who was evidently intent on preparing omelets. They were a good team as he chopped ingredients and she prepared and cooked the finished omelets. Alexis joined them before their breakfast was ready and after a whispered conversation with her grandmother, she regarded Kate and her father with a teasing but fond smile. Great, now his daughter was getting into jesting at their expense too.

As they ate, Rick noted the signs of not enough sleep in his mother and daughter and realized that everyone needed a distraction. If he and Kate could supply that, then he'd do whatever it took to accomplish it. When Kate and Alexis ganged up on him to tease him about what Alexis would be getting into while in college, he swallowed any disquiet and tried to tease them back. His mother had to contribute a few lowlights of his time in college but he deliberately didn't try to be convincing with his disgruntled reactions. He was a little surprised that his mother knew one of the stories though; he'd thought he had gotten away with that one but apparently not.

Eventually he realized that he had completely forgotten the newspaper and given how interesting it had proven lately, he hurried over to get it. When he opened the paper, he nearly dropped it again in shock. The headline was 'Bracken Kings Spat' and there were two main articles, one about prior cooperation between the two and one about the bombing and aftermath. It took a while to read both articles, especially since four different people wanted to read them but he finally stepped back to contemplate what he'd read while Alexis took his place.

A few moments later, Kate finished and came over to join him and took his hand to lead him over to the couch where they sat so close that she was nearly on top of him. She looked as shell-shocked as he felt so they sat in silence for a few minutes. It wasn't until Martha and Alexis joined them with concerned looks that she came back to reality and tried to reassure everyone that she was fine.

Rick wasn't very convinced but resolved to just keep an eye on her rather than risk an argument or annoying her. Besides, they did have a few things to talk about now. He decided to start with the previously unknown connection between Bracken and the Latin Kings. "I've heard of politics making strange bedfellows but Bracken and the Latin Kings would never have occurred to me in a thousand years. I mean I knew they wanted to appear to be a community organization but an alliance with Bracken to gain some political respectability…." He trailed off shaking his head in disbelief.

"They're not as strange a combination as you would think, Rick. They both kill without remorse and try to appear as something they aren't. They're a good combination if you look at it the right way."

The bitterness in her voice was disquieting but her firm grip on his hand and the soft look she was giving him proved that she wasn't giving in to her negative feelings. She was still with them and not about to do anything reckless. He couldn't find it within himself to try to smile but he did nod to agree with her point.

He turned on the TV to CNN and the volume was still turned down and they proceeded to mostly ignore it and somehow Alexis managed to get them into a game of scrabble. Rick thought he would have the inside track as usual as the family wordsmith but Kate gave him a run for his money and eked out a narrow victory. He pretended more surprise than he felt but didn't fool Kate.

They turned to card games and were on the third different game when Kate's phone went off again. She didn't startle as much as the previous day but was a little annoyed until she saw the call was from Ryan. She took the call but didn't step away for privacy; she just continued to sit next to Rick.

"Hey Ryan." Her look became puzzled as she listened and then she said, "That's interesting." After another pause she asked, "Anything new on the assassin or the Kings?" She listened some more and she closed the call with, "Thanks Ryan. Bye."

She stared at her phone a moment appearing deep in thought. When she looked up again, she was embarrassed to see three very curious people looking at her. "Oh, sorry. It was some strange news. There was an anonymous call about a B&E at a vacant warehouse but what they found is two guys taped down to chairs complete with video confessions. They didn't really need the old confessions as they were very glad to talk. They acted like they hadn't slept in days. Anyway, they work for Arantus Solutions and they were both supposed to set up surveillance on us. They weren't clear about how they ended up in the warehouse. We may never find out because once again the FBI swooped in and snatched them up. NYPD is really mad."

Rick was concerned about the question she'd asked. "What about the Kings and the assassin?"

"Oh, that. Apparently there is good news there. The attorney for the assassin passed on a message. He said, 'No hard feelings.' They think it means that the Kings aren't interested in us anymore."

Rick nodded solemnly and agreed. "That is good."

Kate broke the mood by asking, "Whose turn was it?"

Martha seemed startled for a moment and she said, "Oh that would be me. OK, here." She played her card and they continued on.

It was after dinner when they had their next contact when Rick's phone rang. He checked who it was and seemed surprised before he answered. He looked at Kate as he answered, "What's up Ryan?" She raised her eyebrows and he shrugged in response as he listened. He began to smile and said "Everybody is fine." He looked surprised again and then asked, "How mad is she?" He looked disappointed and then he seemed to be trying to cheer Kevin up. "Like Kate said, she can't stay mad forever." He chuckled at the response before they ended the call.

"I have no idea why he called me instead. Gates got some news that got her fired up. It seems the FBI also arrested someone she knows in NYPD headquarters. Apparently it's for something serious but she either doesn't know what it is or doesn't want to share. Everybody at the 12th is walking on eggshells now and it sounds like you and Espo are lucky not to be there."

Kate rolled her eyes but smiled at Rick to show it wasn't getting to her. "I think he called you to check up on me."

Rick was tempted to rebut that but the look she gave him changed his mind. She was probably right and there was some cause to worry. Her history at times like this was spotty at best. He shrugged and replied, "I told him you were fine." She just smiled and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

About the same time in a public restroom, Washington DC:

They had taken one of his encrypted phones but he still had one that he'd taken from his home after the break-in. He had planned ahead and he would win because he'd always be a step ahead of his enemies. He may have lost his company and Woods but he'd still win. He still knew people. He was alone in a place with no reason for bugging, it was time.

The man was surprised to get a call from an unfamiliar number on his encrypted phone. He quickly left his girlfriend and the movie they were watching to hurry to his office. She was so accustomed to it that she didn't even look away from the movie.

"Bindler"

"So that's what you're calling yourself now. This is Bracken and you owe me a favor."

He disagreed but kept it to himself. He knew how dangerous cornered animals were. "What do you want?"

"I want some people dead: Richard Castle, Kate Beckett and Robert Woods. It doesn't have to be in that order but they all have to die. Soon. We won't want things to become unpleasant, would we?"

"No, we wouldn't"

The line went dead and he stared at his phone. His past had come back to haunt him but he had plenty of resources, he could take care of this. He couldn't afford to ignore this and he knew just the man for the job.

The next morning, at the loft:

It had taken a while to fall asleep so they woke up later than usual. Rick could tell that Kate was putting on an act of normalcy but all he could think to do is follow suit. Maybe acting normal would make things normal; he certainly didn't have any better ideas. They started breakfast and Martha and Alexis made fairly quick appearances. They might have been a little better than yesterday but that might have been wishful thinking on Rick's part.

Alexis turned on the TV and they glanced at it occasionally as they ate breakfast. They started playing games again but their hearts weren't really in it and they kept trying different ones for a diversion. After lunch there were rumors about something big going on in a federal grand jury and some of the talking heads speculated that it was about Arantus and/or Bracken, otherwise they wouldn't have paid much attention to it.

They finally had something to speculate about that was interesting but they had little to go on. When nothing came of it by the time they decided it was time for bed, they were a little disappointed. It wasn't until they were going to bed that Rick got a sense that Kate was up to something. He kept an eye on her but nothing happened until she said good night. "Good night, ink slinger."

"Ink slinger? We're doing profession based nicknames now?" She just smirked at him so he thought for a moment and then grinned before responding. "Good night, fuzzy."

Her eyes got big before narrowing. There was still a hint of a smile on her face so he just kept smiling at her and waited for her riposte. "It's time for the big guns then, _kitten_."

Now that was a low blow. She should know how he felt about that pet name. He immediately launched a tickle war that had her writhing and giggling. She tried to retaliate in kind but she was still losing so she switched tactics. She soon had him totally distracted with passionate kissing. She was fine with letting nature take its course so they were both sated and sleepy by the time they were done.

Naturally, Martha had to make a comment about soundproofing the next morning but Rick and Kate just let it slide. There was a lot of light teasing during breakfast and morale seemed to have improved. When Rick turned on the TV, he tried to keep everyone distracted with funny stories. Kate was the first to notice that there seemed to be breaking news from DC.

Rick turned up the volume and they were talking that a major indictment seemed to have just been released by the grand jury and there were rumors of Bracken being arrested. Kate was mesmerized by the television but kept a strong grip on Rick's hand which reassured him somewhat. Even when they were rehashing past news about Arantus and Bracken, they kept their attention on the news so they'd know as soon as new events were disclosed. When they confirmed that Bracken had indeed been arrested and was due in court later that day, Kate couldn't help it and gave Rick a kiss that soon had him befuddled. He barely noticed Alexis' giggle and some whispered comments between his mother and daughter but he ignored it all.

Kate seemed to be in a state of euphoria but it wasn't until after lunch that more news started coming out. Eventually, there was a listing of the charges in the indictment that included seven murders, attempted murder, conspiracy and even tax evasion. Kate was quiet but seemed to just melt into Rick's side and was content to just be as close to him as possible. Rick noticed that Martha and Alexis were much more serious now but they kept quiet for Kate's sake.

The news that bail had been set at 25 million dollars brought a quiet chuckle from Kate. The information on Bracken's legal defense team had been formidable but even they couldn't overcome what must have been a lot of evidence of guilt to set a lower bail. Not allowing bail at all would have been better but probably too much to be expected. Things became grim in the Castle household when it became obvious that Bracken intended to make a statement.

Kate's grip on Rick's hand became painfully tight as Bracken came into view. Rick was tempted to put the volume back down but couldn't resist listening to what the disgraced Senator might have to say. He muttered sarcastic comments as Bracken began as if it was a campaign speech. Bracken's voice went up and down as he scornfully referred to unnamed people who were trying to bring him down with false charges. Each of Rick's comments brought a squeeze of his hand from Kate and a raised eyebrow or amused glance from Alexis or Martha on occasion.

Even Bracken the politician seemed to be starting to wind down when something odd happened that had Rick gaping in surprise. Bracken had quickly dropped from sight and some initial confusion turned into panic as the media suddenly ducked down and scattered before tentatively returning. It wasn't until someone on the spot announced that Bracken had been shot that Rick noticed that he'd been holding his breath. He exchanged a stunned look with Kate before an idea came to him and he brought out his phone to make a call.

Kate and the others watched in confusion as Rick turned down the volume and then selected a number and put his phone on speaker to hold it between him and Kate. He put his left arm firmly around her shoulders as the phone rang. Kate was startled to hear Ryan say "What's up Castle?"

"Hey, Ryan. Do you have the TV on in the precinct?"

"No, why?"

"You might want to check out the news. Bracken's been shot. I just want it on record that I am here in New York while Bracken was shot in DC. Also, say hello, Kate."

After a lifted eyebrow at Rick she complied. "Hey Ryan, I'm here in Castle's loft too."

They heard a muffled conversation on the other end and then a TV coming on before Kevin spoke again. "So what is this, an alibi?"

"It sure is. This call will be pinging off a tower in SOHO, not DC. I want both Kate and I covered on this point."

Ryan chuckled nervously before responding. "Good thinking, I guess. Your alibi is duly noted and I'll try to get documentation from tech on this. So, does this mean that it's all over?"

"I hope so but we can't be sure yet. Wait, there's more news…" He put the phone aside and turned up the volume again. Thankfully, there were no gory shots but they were now reporting that he'd been shot in the head. After exchanging a glance with Kate again he recovered his phone. "Ryan, I'll let you go now."

"Right, I'll let you know if I learn something new."

"Thanks, Ryan. You're a good friend."

"You too."

Kate sighed, turned into him and put her head on his chest and just held on to him. He put his head on hers and returned the hug. It took him a while to remember to check on his daughter and mother but they were similarly holding each other while still keeping some attention on the television. It was an hour later that they announced that Bracken was dead. That news did not evoke much of a reaction from anyone in the loft.

The next morning they pored over the newspaper but there was nothing they didn't already know there and Rick replenished their food supply. Everyone had slept better and conversations were pretty much returned to normal and they even left the TV off. Rick was distracted with the thought of calling Bud to find out what was going on. He noticed that Kate seemed distracted too and he assumed it was for similar reasons.

Kate pulled out her cell phone and wandered away for some privacy and Rick pulled out his phone intending to call Bud. He got distracted wondering who Kate had called but he got no hints as she talked quietly with someone. She appeared to be relieved or happy so he decided not to worry about it. Before he could even move to start his call, his phone rang and he was both surprised and not surprised when it turned to to be Bud calling him.

"Castle."

"Hey Rick. You can return to normal, it looks like everything is settled. Do you want to resume lessons?"

Rick decided to ignore his question for one he considered more important. "Do you know who shot Bracken?"

"It wasn't us if that's what you're thinking."

That was reassuring but he decided to wait for more of an answer. Bud huffed after several seconds and then added, "We have a pretty good idea who did it. Bracken called someone and asked for a hit. We know this because he used a phone that we had bugged. The guy decided to hit Bracken instead. The assassin has left; he showed no interest in New York at all. This other guy has nothing to do with you or Beckett. The slate seems to be clean."

Rick smiled and looked at Kate but she was still distracted with her call. He settled for giving Alexis a thumbs-up and a wink that made her beam back at him. "That's great news, Bud. I'd still like lessons, at least for a while. My reasons for starting still apply."

"OK, I'll need a couple of days to catch up on shut eye. How about usual time, next Thursday?"

"Sounds good. See you then."

With his call ended, he slowly put his phone away and saw that Kate was watching and seemed to be wrapping up her call. He suddenly had a guess as to who she had called.

As she came to rejoin him on the sofa he asked, "How's your dad?"

She did a slight double take before smiling and replying. "He's fine, show off. Was that Bud?"

"It was. He gave the all-clear. We can go back to our normal routines. The guy who hit Bracken isn't interested in us."

Kate showed a hint of surprise but her reaction was overwhelmed by the one from Martha. "Thank goodness! It's not that I dislike your hospitality, kiddo, but I really want to get back to my own apartment. I'd lose my students if I didn't get back soon." She hurried off to her room, presumably to pack.

He stood up as Alexis approached but she only paused for a brief hug before starting for her own room. "I may still have a shot at an internship I was offered. I'm going to call them right away! I'm glad that everyone is safe."

Rick's smile faded as he saw half of their group getting ready to leave. At least he had some alone time with Kate to look forward to. He turned to her but he saw a serious expression on her face that made his heart sink. "Sorry Rick but I need to get going too. I'll grab some of my stuff and head to my apartment. I'll call you later."

He realized some of his feelings must have shown on his face as she quickly amended her remarks. "I'm not breaking up with you, Rick. It's just too soon to move in. I need some space. I'll call you, OK?"

Her smile seemed genuine so he tried to return it but his heart wasn't really in it. He watched her leave for his room and after feeling sorry for himself for a couple of minutes, he decided to get some water and settled on a stool to drink it. He gave all three of them hugs and goodbyes as upbeat as he could manage but he was eventually alone. He put the alarm back in normal mode and ended up in his office intending to write but what little he did got erased in frustration a couple of hours later. This had turned into an awful day after getting what should have been good news. It's not that he wanted them to be in danger, he just couldn't believe that after so much forced togetherness, he was now alone. The change was a bit jarring and incongruous for him. He kept resisting the urge to call Kate; he really did want to give her space if that is what she needed.

The call from Ryan as to whether the police protection was still needed was a welcome distraction even as brief as it was. He agreed that the need was over and he also remembered to tell Eduardo that deliveries to the apartment were OK again. Eduardo had seemed relieved that the squad car would no longer be lurking in front of the building. That just brought home to Rick how many people had been affected by this whole mess.

The call from Alexis that she was going to stay over with a friend didn't surprise him with how things were going that day. He couldn't blame her for wanting to avoid the loft given their recent captivity and he'd do the same if he had anywhere to go. The only place he'd consider is Kate's apartment but he'd have to be invited. For now, he wasn't going to push. He ate some leftovers for dinner, alone.

He had tried to watch a movie, tried to write but nothing could hang on to his attention long enough to accomplish anything. He finally got ready for bed and sat in bed contemplating his phone. He really wanted to talk to Kate but he didn't want to risk pushing her either. He nearly called her three times before the phone rang and her picture came up, much to his relief. He was in such a hurry to answer that he nearly dropped the phone.

"Hello, beautiful."

"Hello yourself, handsome."

Her voice was light and teasing and he instantly felt better. Maybe she wasn't pulling away again after all. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. How are you and your family?"

"Alexis is staying with a friend. I haven't heard from my mother but I'm sure she's keeping busy. I'm fine other than being a bit lonely."

The immediate answer was silence and he worried that she saw it as him pushing when he'd just been trying to be honest. He was relieved when she finally answered. "She was cooped up for a while, I'm sure it's temporary."

"That's exactly what I thought; I'm not worried about her." Suddenly he realized that might be taken as him being worried about Kate. All of this subtext between them was usually just so annoying. He continued quickly to keep things from becoming awkward. "Any plans for tomorrow?"

"Not really, I'm going to play things by ear for a while. You know, decompress."

"I get it. Maybe we can decompress together."

Her chuckle might have been a bit forced, he wasn't sure. "We'll see. I think we both need some space, a lot has happened, there's a lot to take in."

He certainly couldn't argue with that but he couldn't help worrying about her pulling away. He found himself without something to say so she filled in the silence before he could.

"I was thinking it might be time for another confession."

He decided to go for humor. "They say that confession is good for the soul." Her answering laugh seemed genuine and made him smile.

"Not that sort of confession, Rick. Remember when you invited me to the Hamptons and you ended up going with Gina?"

How could he forget? He still wished that she'd said yes back then. "Of course. What is there to confess about that?"

"When I asked you to go into the hall to talk to me, I was going to tell you that I'd changed my mind; that I wanted to go with you after all."

"What about Demming?"

"I'd just broken up with him. He was out of the picture."

He was speechless for a moment. "Oh. Wow. Sometimes I think the universe has a wicked sense of humor. The timing – I just can't believe it!"

"I know. I wish I'd said yes earlier. I was too late."

"That isn't quite what I meant. I already told you how that attempt to reunite with Gina was a huge mistake. It's just so…." He just looked down and shook his head as if in denial.

"Yeah." Her voice seemed a bit strained so he spoke up to keep things from getting uncomfortable.

"I was a little confused back then. I was already falling for you but you were with Demming and I thought you were happy with him. I decided to step out of the picture."

"You were trying to give me a chance to be happy with someone else?"

"Yes and it was all for nothing."

"We both miscalculated. I took it as rejection and that you had moved on so I had to try to do the same. What a mess."

"We just have to communicate better now. We're together now and that is the most important part."

"Yes. I know it may not always seem like it but I'm happy. I have no regrets and I want us to work. I promise to try too."

"I love you."

"I love you back. Sweet dreams, Castle. I'll call tomorrow."

He slowly lowered the phone after she disconnected and had mixed feelings. He was still not entirely convinced that all was well but she had reassured him to some extent. He hoped he was worrying about nothing. It was natural that things could seem a little weird; they had been under so much pressure lately.

Kate was smiling as she put her phone back and snuggled into her bed to sleep. Calling Rick had been the right thing to do, she felt better already. She'd been worried about her PTSD since she'd returned to her apartment. Her mood had been bad and she wasn't sure what to do with herself. Now she felt peaceful and looked forward to a good night's sleep. Too bad that isn't what happened.

Kate finally gave up and got out of bed about 9:30AM. She wasn't going to get any more sleep and she'd just have to get by on what sleep that she'd managed to get. She could do this like she had many times before and figured she'd make up for it that night. She spent most of the day washing, cleaning, and talking to Lanie and her father. Rick had been in the back of her mind pretty much the entire day but she kept making excuses not to call him. She feared this sudden need for him was a symptom of her PTSD, it just didn't seem normal to her. However, when it was time to go to bed again, she resolved to call him again once she was in bed. She took a bath that seemed to help temporarily but she still felt a bit off when she settled into bed with her phone. As the phone began to ring she decided to go for an intimate greeting.

"Hello beautiful."

She answered through her blush. "Hello lover."

He chuckled before answering. "Kind of hard to do that through the phone, dearest."

"With your imagination, you'll probably figure out a way to do it."

"I appreciate the confidence but it's still best as a _**hands on**_ experience."

Just the way he said that sent a chill down her spine and kept her speechless for a moment. She nervously licked her lips before responding. "I'm trying to calm down to sleep so you're not helping, lover boy."

"I know a way to make you tired."

She was glad he wasn't there to see her massive blush. "Still not helping, Castle."

"Are you OK?"

She felt torn, part of her flattered that he would worry and part of her annoyed by her own reaction. She decided to just change the subject for now. "So if we're dating now, how come we haven't actually gone out on a date?"

"We can fix that tomorrow. Oh! Speaking of tomorrow, I have another session with Bud tomorrow, are you coming?"

She was torn about it, she would like to go and it would be an excuse to spend some time with Rick but she didn't really feel like going yet. "I'm not really feeling up to it right now. Maybe next time." Then she realized she hadn't answered about the date. "What day is it anyway?"

"Lost track, have we? It's Wednesday."

"OK, how about having the date on Friday?"

"That's fine. Do you want to go out?"

"Sure. Surprise me but nothing too extravagant, OK?"

"I can do that. You sound tired."

"I am tired. I better say goodnight now and get some sleep."

"Sure. Goodnight, beautiful."

"Goodnight, handsome."

That hadn't been as reassuring as he had hoped. Sure, she had called again but she sounded off and she didn't open up about what might be wrong. For now, he would be content to see her on Friday. If he was still concerned then, he could address it in person. He wasn't looking forward to it if he had to push her again, sometimes she just pushed right back.

It had been so nice to hear his voice again but then things just kind of got messed up in her head. She'd have to be certain to get better before Friday so she could make it up to him during their date. She was just trying not to worry about the PTSD as she knew that would hinder rather than help. She kept trying to clear her mind and go to sleep but it just wasn't working.

When she saw that she'd been laying in bed for nearly two hours with no sleep in sight, she growled out in frustration and got up to head for her bathroom. She didn't have any sleeping pills but she knew certain decongestants made you sleepy so she took one and went back to bed. It sort of worked but it just changed the problem. She kept waking up in nightmares. Montgomery died or she died or worst of all Rick died. She kept trying to go back to sleep as she knew she needed it desperately but for some reason it just never worked for long.

By 8 AM Kate had a headache and virtually no sleep despite all of her efforts. She had hoped for a better night but instead it was worse. She felt drained of energy and borderline depressed. She took painkillers and forced herself to eat breakfast. By midmorning she realized that waiting for things to get better just wasn't working. She was going to have to face it; she needed to see Dr. Burke again.

She was lucky that someone had cancelled and she'd be able to see him at 3PM. She tried to read to pass the time but that didn't work well and for lunch she had to force herself to eat again. Her appetite was weak and she felt so tense she didn't know what to do with herself. It was a little after 1PM and she realized that Rick would have just started his session with Bud. It would be a little weird to see Bud again knowing what he had been involved in but being with Rick would make up for it. She really did miss him. It was a relief when it was finally time for her to go to her appointment with Dr. Burke.

Earlier, when Rick arrived for his lesson:

As soon as Rick opened the door, he saw Bud stretching and knew things were really back to normal. Bud wasn't watching him anymore. Bud gave him a small smile and asked, "No girlfriend this time?"

"She wasn't feeling up to it. She said maybe next time." He stood there thinking for a moment rather than going to change, which piqued Bud's curiosity.

"Is something wrong?"

"If you consider my father a friend, you should warn him that the next time he sees my mother, things might not be very pleasant."

He saw the normal mask appear on his teacher's face and decided to head him off before he even started to deny anything. "Don't try to fool me, you have tells, Bud. I know when you're about to lie to me. I know who 'Jackson Hunt' is, my mother recognized him despite all of his denials." Rick saw a trace of a grimace but then Bud appeared to change his mind.

"He's a friend of mine and I think I told you he saved my hide once. We've worked together and since my bum leg got me retired, he sends me work once in a while and I help him out too. He really does care about you. He keeps tabs on you."

Rick nearly snorted about the 'bum leg' reference. He'd thought that Bud might favor one leg but he certainly hadn't lost any effectiveness as a fighter that Rick could tell. "How did he find out that I was looking for a defense tutor?"

Bud smiled grimly before answering. "One of your contacts is a contact for him too. It's part of him keeping an eye on you from afar. He found out about the Pandora thing – he was really pissed about what almost happened – and he figured he'd make sure you got the best possible tutor and asked me to take the job."

Rick just nodded and went in to change. He really wasn't convinced about his father's supposed interest in him but he didn't want to take it out on Bud. He felt like he owed Bud now and he was getting really good lessons out of the deal. He'd leave it at that.


	8. The Answer

A/N: We have come to the end and I hope you have enjoyed the story so far. I'm working on a new story but I'm not sure when I'll start to publish it yet. I still don't own them.

Kate arrived in the waiting room and nodded to the receptionist who obviously recognized her. She was the only one waiting so she took a seat and tried to get her thoughts in order. She was so tired though that she found her thoughts wandering. She remembered times that Dr. Burke almost seemed to read her mind. He reminded her of the Klingon in Star Trek but she was glad that he didn't remind her of a Vulcan. It was the Vulcans that could read minds and he was unsettling enough at times as it was without that image in her head.

She shook her head in irritation. This wasn't helping one little bit. She had to force herself to focus on what she'd say to Dr. Burke and ignore her insomniac flights of fancy.

She definitely had to talk about the possible PTSD but still wasn't sure about talking about her relationship issues. Sure, she had talked to Dr. Burke about Rick before - many times. When she thought about that more, the number of times he came up seemed a bit excessive. She was just starting to contemplate the possibility that she had actually discussed her relationship with Rick often without even realizing it when the receptionist told her to go in. She didn't feel ready and walked reluctantly to Dr. Burke's office door.

He was as calm and welcoming as usual and that just made her feel a bit worse that she had so many issues with sharing her thoughts with him. It was his job and he couldn't do his job without her revealing herself to him. It was like her trying to identify a killer when nobody would talk to her. It just wasn't a fair situation for him.

He waited patiently as she tried to figure out how to start but he spoke before she did. "What brings you here today, Kate?"

She sighed and shifted in the chair just to give herself a moment. "I've been through a lot recently and I was a little concerned about possible signs of PTSD."

"I heard about the NYPD involvement in the news. Is that what you are talking about?"

"You mean Arantus Solutions, Senator Bracken - that news?"

He merely nodded as he regarded her calmly. "Yes. The men who worked for Arantus were the ones who were after me. One of them was the one who shot me before I came to see you. I was indirectly involved in identifying Senator Bracken as the one behind the whole mess."

"What symptoms of PTSD concern you?"

"Mainly bad dreams and insomnia. I did have one panic attack. However, the one time that our lives were on the line, I held up well."

"Our lives?"

"Rick, his daughter, me."

"Could you describe any trauma you have been through recently?"

"We had to hide out for several days. An assassin came for us as a pizza delivery guy, that's the incident where our lives were on the line. I covered him with a gun; it was actually Rick who took the guy down. I didn't really have to do much as it turned out."

"How did it make you feel?"

"What? Hiding? Rick taking the guy down?"

"All of it."

She was tempted to gripe about him asking for so much but she decided to push that aside and do her best to answer him. "The hiding was just tedious at first but later on it was stressful. There was a lot going on that I had no control over and I knew there were people who'd like to see me dead. I was concerned that my presence was endangering Rick and his family but he convinced me we were safest where we were. He and his family stuck by me through the whole thing."

"Where were you staying then?"

"At Rick's place."

"How did you feel after the incident with the assassin?"

She wasn't sure exactly what he was going for with that question but he had asked her about how she felt about Rick taking down the assassin and she wasn't sure what to say. "Rick has been taking martial arts lessons because of the trouble we've gotten into when he follows me. He said he does it to help protect me like I try to protect him. I guess... it's kind of flattering. I was kind of impressed when he took down the assassin. He's saved my life before so it wasn't the first time."

"How would you characterize your relationship with Mr. Castle?"

She frowned in confusion momentarily as they had discussed that before but then it dawned on her that he (correctly) suspected a change in their relationship. "He's my boyfriend. We got together just before the whole craziness started."

"And you are now living together?"

She did her best to stifle her grimace. That touched on what she had second thoughts about discussing with him but it looked like it was going to be out there whether she liked it or not. "We've never made it official but I end up sleeping at his place more often than not lately. I have been back at my apartment for a couple of days now but it's been kind of rough for me. In fact, I ummm… sort of have a little trouble sleeping without him now." She tried to stifle a wince at that and found herself biting her lip a little too aggressively so she had to force herself to stop.

"Does that seem sudden to you?"

"Umm, I guess." She had almost said it as a question since she was so uncertain.

"And what does that indicate to you?"

She suppressed her annoyance. Why did he keep asking her these awkward, difficult questions? She quickly conceded to herself that it was his job and set about trying to answer him. At first she was stumped. What did that mean? Oh. It was back to that again. She _needed_ him. She felt her face heating but there was no point in trying to hide it. He probably already knew. Him and his Klingon mind tricks – no that was Vulcan – ACK! Enough!

She muttered, "I love him. I need him."

"Is that a bad thing?"

He was doing it to her again but suddenly she thought about it some more. Why was it a bad thing? She had been seeing Dr. Burke for months to be able to open herself up to a real relationship with Castle that could endure. She was succeeding but now she was resisting one of the side effects. Of course people needed the people they loved. She saw the broken hearts so many times in her job. Now she was like them. She was vulnerable again, just as she had been when her mother had died. Denying it was useless, she knew how she would feel if she lost Castle somehow. Putting some name on the relationship wouldn't change that one iota.

Her eyes flicked up to the calm, sympathetic eyes of Dr. Burke and she knew there was only one possible answer. "No, that's not a bad thing. Not a bad thing at all."

"Are you familiar with the term 'Stockholm syndrome'?"

She frowned slightly as she thought back to her academy training where that had come up and she failed to see how it was relevant. "Yes, they covered that in the academy."

"If bonding can happen between a captor and a hostage, consider how a bond can form between two victims of a stressful situation. In this case, he could even be seen as your protector. You were at his home and he brought down the man who had come to kill you both. He was, in a way, your hero."

It all clicked into place for her. Yes, she had heard of bonds formed from stressful situations but that brought up a new concern. "But don't relationships started in this way tend to break down?"

"If this had been the basis of your relationship, certainly that is possible. How long have you known Mr. Castle? Didn't you say your relationship had already started when this situation occurred? You have been in many stressful situations with him before. You've mentioned that the two of you have saved each other a few times. What do you see as the basis for the relationship between the two of you?"

Difficult questions are bad enough but now he's throwing multiple ones all at once! His meaning was clear enough to her though. This latest exploit was not the basis of their relationship. Her mind drifted back through their time together. Even when he had seemed like a spoiled playboy to her there had always been a spark, an attraction between them. She thought about all of their adventures together, the ups and downs, the good and the bad. It reminded her of her time thinking about them on the swing but she was trying to be more analytical now.

As she thought about how the stressful situations had been part of their relationship she couldn't help but feel that they were a major part of the trust she felt with Rick. He had proven himself over and over again and he had kept coming back. That is how he started breaking down her walls, he was reliable, steadfast and well, just plain adorable so much of the time. Suddenly, it all fell into place for her and she realized what she had been doing wrong. She also became aware of the fact that she had a big and probably silly grin on her face and she saw the suggestion of a smile on her therapist's face now too.

"Thank you, Dr. Burke. You've been a big help."

She beamed at him as they both stood up and she nearly hugged him as she was so filled with gratitude. She changed it to a hearty handshake to keep things more professional and left like a person on a mission because that is exactly what she was.

Her ride to her apartment passed in a blur of anticipation and she practically burst into her apartment and hauled out her luggage from the closet and headed for her bedroom and packed everything she could, the rest would have to wait for another trip. She briefly considered texting or calling Rick but decided to surprise him instead. Of course, the revelation could be on her if he was gone for some reason but she had a key and the surprise would only be delayed.

She gathered everything at the door and considered but rejected as insignificant the fact that all of the luggage would be hard to handle. This was important and she'd manage, she always found a way. She looked back at her apartment and realized that it meant little to her now and it certainly wasn't home. As much as she liked the loft, home was wherever Rick was and that is where she'd stay from now on.

Getting into and out of the cab was awkward but she didn't have the patience for worrying about it. Her objective was now in sight and nothing else mattered. Eduardo was very helpful getting all of her things into the elevator with her and she'd have to make up for her distracted thank you later. She found herself bouncing up and down in anticipation while the elevator went up and had to force herself to stop. She liked to tease him about acting like a kid and here she was doing the same thing!

She maneuvered everything to his door and started to raise her hand to knock and stopped herself. He'd told her so many times she was a member of the family now and she took out her key instead. It was time to act like this was home since that is exactly what it was. She had just gotten everything inside and closed the door when Rick suddenly appeared from his office and stopped and stared at her in surprise.

Her smile pretty much bursted out of her and she ran to give him a hug and a kiss, which he returned with fervor. They exchanged 'I love you' before Rick had a chance to recuperate and change the subject. "You're back? You're moving in?"

"Yes. I'm sorry I was so stubborn before. Everything has changed and I was stupid and didn't change with it. I'm here for as long as you'll have me."

He hugged her to him as he stared into her eyes and she couldn't help exploring the depths of his eyes in return. He whispered, "That will be a very long time Kate. I can't imagine not wanting to be with you."

Words failed her so she answered with a passionate kiss and that seemed to more than satisfy Rick as an answer. She pulled back and then gave him a devious grin before speaking. "I have a surprise for you. I'll give it to you in your bedroom and please wait in your office for a few minutes. I'll be as quick as I can."

She grabbed just one of her suitcases and hurried past him into his bedroom. She winked at him before closing the door and Rick finally released the breath the he'd been holding. This was exactly what he hoped for but it was so sudden that his head was nearly spinning. He'd been concerned at first at how tired she looked but then her actions completely spun his head around. This was starting to look like an amazing day.

She was still grinning like a fool but she didn't care. She took one last look in the mirror and decided that she was as ready as she'd ever be. The befuddled look on his face had been just so adorable and she couldn't wait to get her hands on him. She went over towards the door between his office and bedroom and announced, "I'm ready!" She couldn't help but feel a little timid but she tried not to show it.

Later she settled her head on Rick's bare chest and gave him a brief squeeze with the arm that was draped across his body. She had never felt so content and sated in her life. It was as if all that she'd had before Rick was just sex and that with Rick it was making love. There was just no comparison. She had two reasons for disgruntlement but she just pushed them from her mind. First, why did something that she had spent so much time and money on buying just the right one have to end up on the floor after just a minute or two? She'd feel cheated except for the look on Rick's face when he'd seen it. The other thing was that she was pretty sure she'd have a big bruise on her right hip where she had landed on the floor when they fell out of bed the second time.

She'd teased him that he had no idea how it would be with her but she was now convinced that she'd had no idea either. She'd not thought to mention it before for fear of inflating his ego but she rejected that thought now. It was so much more important that he knew how she felt about him, how much he meant to her. There was nothing in the world nearly as important as that. Unfortunately, she fell asleep before she could even begin to act on it. Her insomnia was catching up to her.

Rick watched her as her breathing evened out and she became limp against him. That had been the most epic time that he had experienced with a woman ever. This was the new number one and nothing else was close to it. That was only partly because he knew this meant that Kate was now all in on their relationship. She was an amazing and creative lover and she had been so right, he had had no idea.

She had already knocked all other women out of his top 10 and now he couldn't help thinking that she had knocked all other women out of his mind as far as relationships went. Sure, he'd always share parenthood with Meredith and he'd had a few good times with Gina but it was nothing like this. He didn't regret Alexis for a moment but he wished that Kate had been first. She was the only one that mattered now.

The next Valentine's Day:

Everything had been going so well, she looked great (he'd had a hard time ignoring all of the admiring glances she had received), she had complemented him on his choice of restaurant and she even seemed enthused about trying what she had ordered. However, it soon became apparent that she was distracted and then he wondered if she was looking for something. She was being subtle but he was too attentive to miss the signs. She was checking her place setting, looked at her wine glass carefully…. What was she up to?

Then it hit him and he tried to show no reaction to his sudden realization. She suspected! She was looking for a ring! However, he had something much better in mind that the tired old routine of having her find the ring. Besides, he had heard stories of how that had gone awry for some prospective grooms. He had something much better and more private in mind for later that night. He was a little disappointed that she thought he'd be so cliché about his proposal and he considered ignoring what she was doing and making her wait.

That idea didn't last very long though. He was as anxious to ask as she appeared to be anxious to be asked. He wavered on what to do for a few moments until he noticed that she was starting to give him a concerned look. He had probably looked troubled or something and he now knew he had to do something. No, waiting was no longer an option and this was not going well at all. He decided to forget about the surprise that obviously wouldn't be all that surprising and give her the option. He removed something from his pocket and placed it on the table as he smiled at her.

"Looking for this? I actually had planned something more private for later but if you are anxious…."

His teasing seemed to be for naught as she stared at the small ring box he'd placed on the table. She seemed entranced and he felt a flutter of anticipation at how she seemed to want to take their relationship to a more permanent level of commitment as much as he did. He'd hoped that she'd be as anxious for this as him and the apparent confirmation of it made him break out in a big and probably silly looking grin.

Her eyes finally left the ring box and she stared into his eyes with a longing that gave him another flutter somewhere deep inside him. He still wasn't sure that a place as public as this was such a great idea so he gave her one more chance to indicate her preference. He raised his eyebrows in inquiry and mouthed the word 'now?'. Her grin became bigger and her shy-looking nod was all it took to get him to change his plans.

He took the box, opened it and somehow managed to smoothly go to one knee near her chair as he held the ring up to her. He spoke quietly and stared into her expressive eyes as he said, "Katherine Houghton Beckett, we may have taken a long route to arrive here but you have become a part of my life and a part of me. I love you and ask that you do me the great honor of becoming my wife."

The expression on her face was all the answer he needed and he was amazed as tears appeared in her eyes. She began to lurch out of the chair and he didn't want to end up sprawled on the floor so he quickly stood up and she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a searing kiss. Afterwards, she placed her head on his shoulder and whispered "yes" into his ear. They were both shaking a little as he placed the ring on her finger and it was only then when applause began to break out that he remembered where they were.

Kate blushed and put her head into his shoulder again and Rick held her tight and tried to ignore the attention and cell phones oriented their way. They were going to end up on page six for sure but at least it wouldn't change anything at the precinct. Not only had the chief of detectives said their relationship was acceptable, even Gates had seemed to come around. Kate and him officially together, this was going to be so awesome.


End file.
